Renovator's Rescue: Part three

Regular readers may recall that terribly run down Renovator's Delight I've been tracking for the past few months. You can see earlier posts Here and Here.

Well, there is movement at the station, so to speak. The house is being re-stumped. At first I thought it was going to be removed from the block, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was definitely a raising and re-stumping affair.

Interwar Queenslander being raised and re-stumped

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Queenslander house style, this is a very typical renovation. Because the home is mostly of timber construction and was originally built on wooden stilts (which was originally to avoid flooding and allow air ventilation in our sub-tropical climate), it lends itself to being raised slightly to legal height to provide extra living area under the home. It's a big undertaking but it will almost double the living space of an existing home.

A renovation such as this will include a new concrete slab and new posts/stumps to support the home. If it is done well, the bottom half of the house will be set back about a metre from the front plane of the upper level to reduce the mass of the building; it will then be clad in weatherboards or material which is consistent with the construction of the house.  A decorative valance may be used to lessen the impact of the new addition to the home as in the image below. New stairs in a style consistent with the era of the house will then be reinstated at the front.

Image from HERE

I wish the Sow's Ear's lower level had been set back from the front plane when it was re-stumped many, many moons ago. I also wish the front steps were not 'modernised'. Reinstating stairs consistent to the era of the Sow's Ear is on our long term agenda...Did you hear that Mr Rooney?

Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to seeing more progress on the old house. It's great that it was saved as too many character homes disappear from our streets. I'll keep you posted on further developments.