Guide 7: Additions to Your House
The Need to Extend
Many Townsville House owners will want to extend to provide additional living and bedroom spaces, update kitchens and bathrooms, or build on decks and carports.
If a large amount of additional space is required it may be better, and more economical, to buy a larger house or, consider building the extension as a separate block with a link to the main house. Avoid large additions which affect the scale of the original house. The scale of a large extension can be reduced by designing it in smaller parts to reduce the bulk of the altered building.
Consideration should also be given to how the spaces within the house relate to the outdoor space on your property, to spaces on adjoining properties and to the streetscape as a whole. Try not to build close to boundaries where neighbouring houses and yards may become crowded and overlooked. Townsville's timber houses are more comfortable with space around them for privacy and to catch breezes. Owners resort to airconditioning where privacy and cross ventilation provisions are compromised, resulting in more noise, heat, cost expenditure and damage to the environment.
Regulations
Firstly you should read the section Starting Out on the first page of Guide 6 - Alterations to Your House, as it also applies to works involving additions.
Any additions will require properly drafted working drawings to be lodged, either with the Local Authority, or with a private building certifier, and fees will apply. These plans will need to comply with the Queensland Building Act and the Building Code of Australia - Volume 2.
You could also consider employing an Architect experienced in residential conservation work to provide design advice and assist with the preparation of the plans.
Building work must be carried out by a registered House Builder, or alternatively if you want to perform or co-ordinate your own building work you must obtain an Owner Builder Permit from the Queensland Building Services Authority (BSA).
Once you have engaged a Builder, there are other statutory requirements which have to be attended to such as, BSA insurances, plumbing and drainage approvals, portable long service leave levies, and the like, all requiring fees to be paid. These are usually taken care of by the Builder or his subcontractors in their cost for the works.
Because Townsville is in a cyclonic region, any timber framed additions to your house will have to be designed and constructed to withstand cyclonic winds in accordance with Australian Standard AS 1684.3 Residential timber-framed construction - Cyclonic areas. Framing sizes, joint connections, bracing and tie down details can be referenced from this Standard.
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Raised smaller houses on narrow blocks can often look ugly and out of scale.
- Raised house out of scale
- Scale of adjoining houses
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Building In Under
If your house is highset, a simple way to gain extra rooms is to enclose the space under the core of the house, although often this is not the best solution. Aesthetically and for practical reasons, like waterproofing, it is best to keep the external walls of the enclosure back by one row of stumps from the external walls or verandahs of the upper level.
It may be necessary to raise the house to achieve liveable headroom, and this should be carefully considered before deciding on this approach, as it generally results in a substantial change to the appearance of the house itself, which is often ugly and out of scale. Raised larger houses on wide blocks of land are more likely to maintain a compatible scale with adjacent houses than raised small houses on narrow blocks. Don't turn a lowset house into a highset.
Habitable rooms require a minimum 2.4 metres ceiling height, while other rooms such as laundries, kitchens, bathrooms, storerooms and garages require 2.1 metres minimum height. Raising the house involves designing new footings, stumps, bracing, tie-down, stairs and strengthened floor bearers (if some of the stumps are being removed to provide more open spaces). Extending sewer and waste pipes, water pipes and electrical wiring (including lowering switchboards) will also be required.
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Modern simple addition to a 1950's Townsville house raised and built in under, incorporating an internal stair and using the support columns to create spaces. Stephen de Jersey, Architect.
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Nothing looks worse than a concrete masonry box propping up a traditional timber house.
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Building in under can also provide termites with ideal concealed locations to get into the house and may affect the natural drainage of sloping sites. The installation of a concrete slab on ground and termite prevention measures needs to be carefully considered.
Use materials which are lightweight and compatible. Nothing looks worse than a concrete masonry box propping up a traditional timber house. Partial screening using timber battens and timber framed walls set back, will maintain the lightweight look enhanced by light and shadow on the new enclosure.
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Building On
While your Townsville House may look large with plenty of verandah space, it may in fact have few rooms which are usually in the centre or at the back of the house. It is often better to build on an addition rather than altering the character of the original interiors by enlarging rooms and removing walls, or by building in under to create more habitable space.
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In the past many houses have been added on to. This was achieved by enclosing verandahs and adding on structures at the side and rear. Ralph Power sketch.
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In the past, many houses have been added onto providing additional bedrooms as the family's needs have changed, or as the bathroom, toilet and laundry have become a part of the interior of the house. This was achieved by enclosing verandahs and adding on structures at the sides and rear. Town sewerage, water supply and electricity have changed the way we live in the house in comparison with the way occupants lived in the original house in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The simple dominant roof forms of the typical timber framed houses of this period should not be spoilt by additions which significantly alter the shape and character of the original roof. The roof pitch should match the original. Don't add large skillions or incorporate dormer windows. Avoid joins of the new roof with the original which involve box gutters.
The new roof form and its relationship with the existing roof is the key to a well designed addition. Typical worker's dwellings have a hipped roof form that is truncated on one or both sides of the house. In these cases it is a simple matter of completing the hip form of the roof to achieve extra floor area under, provided there is enough space on your block of land to achieve this. The width of the extension is governed by the springing point for the rafters, and the height at this point should be constant around the edge of the roof. Likewise, gabled roofs can be extended by incorporating additional gable extensions.
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Separate Additions
Often a good way of providing larger additions is to construct a separate building linked to the main house. There is no need to replicate the original style and in fact a simple modern design using materials in keeping with the old, often looks better when constructed adjacent to an historic house. Proportion and detail is more important than style and decoration.
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Employ these design principles always:
- Accommodate activities in appropriately varying degrees of enclosure.
- Integrate the inside with the outside, and landscape the spaces.
- Exclude sun and promote ventilation.
- Build "post and beam" and pitch your roof.
- Select materials which are energy efficient and ecologically sustainable.
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Where houses are truncated, it is a simple matter of completing the hip form of the roof to achieve extra floor area under.
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A good simple modern addition, smaller than the main house and linked to it.
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These additions are usually better placed at the rear of the house where they do not conflict with the appearance of your house from the street. Casual living spaces are best accommodated in this type of addition, relating to outdoor living areas of the back yard.
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Over - decoration
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Over decoration and over improvement has turned this simple worker's bungalow into a grand villa, something it never was.
The addition of the portico, concrete staircase, cross balustrading and iron lacework look out of place.
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Guide 1 - Conserving the Townsville House in this Series says, "To 'over-decorate' or 'over-improve' an old house should be resisted as it will turn it into something it never was". Any work should be preceded by thorough research to find out what your place originally looked like and how it has evolved over time. All kinds of reproduction fixtures and fittings from roof ventilators to iron lacework, are available from restoration shops and hardware stores.
In carrying out your additions, don't be tempted to add on "bits and pieces" to the new extension, or to the original house, if they were not part of the history of the house. Similarly, don't add on front porticos and pediments or elaborate staircases. Attempting to turn a simple worker's bungalow into a grand villa will only look out of place.
When Townsville Houses were built, materials were what they were. Plywood was plywood, timber was made into internal vj lining boards or exterior cladding boards and fibre (asbestos) cement sheeting was just that. Nowadays, punched metal is made to look like timber lattice, plywood sheeting is made to look like timber vj boarding and fibre cement and vinyl cladding is made to look like timber chamferboards and weatherboards, embossed timber grain and all. Be true to good conservation principles and dispense with the fakes.
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Decks and Carports
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- Skillion roofed carport out of character
- Pitched roofed carport matches house
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Traditional timber houses have changed over time and many of the smaller cottages and worker's dwellings have lost their outdoor verandah spaces to partial or full enclosure. Rather than claim the verandahs back, there is a tendency these days for new owners to build on a "deck". Often this is the first thing undertaken along with modernising the kitchen or bathroom.
Decks can be either roofed or left open to the sky. The design of a roof over the deck is a difficult consideration and the solution will be dependent on the shape of the roof on the main house and how the connection is made.
Townsville's older houses were built before families owned motor cars and as a result many carports were simply tacked on to the front or side, or a garage shed was constructed in the back yard.
It is preferable to design deck, carport and garage additions to complement the original house, and not be discordant with it. They are best located at the side or rear of the house and not in front, to preserve the view or the original house from the street. The roof form and pitch normally should match the main roof, although other shapes can sometimes fit.
Further Reading
Woods Bagot Pty Ltd and Dorothy Gibson-Wilde, Urban Conservation Study, prepared for Townsville City Council, December 1993
Ian Evans and The National Trust of Queensland, The Queensland House History and Conservation, The Flannel Flower Press, 2001
Rod Fisher and Brian Crosier, The Queensland House - a roof over our heads, Queensland Museum, 1994
Balwant Saini and Ray Joyce, The Australian House - Homes of the Tropical North, Lansdowne Press, 1982
This brochure has been prepared for the Townsville City Council by Ralph Power Associates Pty Ltd ACN 010 435 220.
For advice on various technical aspects of house conservation, please refer to the series Conserving the Queensland House, prepared by the National Trust of Queensland, and available from the City Heritage & Beautification Unit of Townsville City Council or from the National Trust Centre, Castling Street, West End.
For more information, please phone 4727 9000 or contact the Special Projects Unit.
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