House Levelling Christchurch & Auckland Homes

If the levels are beyond the ministry of business, innovation, and employment (MBIE) guidelines, then the house may require lifting. Note that prior to the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) many homes were out of level due to natural settlement over the years. They may also have been out of level due to ‘As Construction’ or As built. Often, houses may have become more out of level due to the CES. Working out if the house is out of level from before the CES or whether the house has been exacerbated by the CES is generally for an engineer to advise. Engineers carry out forensic examinations of the house and gather lots of evidence which highlights any differences.

Similar to how to you know if a house requires repiling. We use a zip level to take the levels of the floor; we set the datum level to zero, and then we check each room, usually one in the middle of the room and one in each corner of the room. If there are levels higher or lower than the MBIE guidelines. If the levels were outside of tolerance, then we would carry out a sub floor inspection to understand exactly what is happening and what the next action is. Jacking and packing the piles may be the option, or re piling may be required.

In most cases, yes, there is consequential damage, but Wrightway takes every measure to minimise this and it's essential to have your home levelled. It can result in cracking to internal linings and flooring replacement is required and possibly cladding damage can occur. This can all be rectified as part of the earthquake repair process.

By disconnecting from all services and foundations, removing the existing foundation type and installing a new foundation type. In most cases, you'll have timber driven piles, which will allow for a house to be raised to a higher platform. You have to be careful how high you raise a house due to the recession planes and potential high wind zones.

We receive calls all the time requesting a ballpark figure for this, and we always advise we need to visit the site and assess before we can give them a quote. It would be irresponsible and inaccurate to do so.

This Depends what foundation type your home or office building is, but if it is a concrete ring foundation with piles, which is the most common in New Zealand, we'd start by disconnecting from all services, pathways, driveways and the existing foundation. It gets fairly technical, so it's best to call us for a more detailed description.

Normally the houses we re-level are old, so there may be some consequences to other areas of the house. However, this is completely normal and all resulting damage is corrected as part of the process.

To level a house means lifting it so that the floor levels are within MBIE guidelines. This is performance based taking into account the effect on the windows, doors and joinery, etc.

Typically a full house re-level takes four weeks, weather dependant.

Yes, as in most cases, the floor areas have been removed to allow the piling or levelling works to go ahead. Usually the services of water and electric have been disconnected as well. The house can be a Health & Safety hazard due to open flooring.