
Termites and moisture in Brisbane houses
South East Queensland does not lose houses to fashion. It loses them to water that nobody watched and insects that work the night shift.
Independent editorial desk · South East Queensland
Brisbane Home BuildersAn independent journal of building, land and renovation in South East Queensland
Keeping the house, changing the brief
How to renovate a Brisbane house without losing the things that make it liveable: character rules, staging a life around the works, and wet-area detailing for the subtropics.


South East Queensland does not lose houses to fashion. It loses them to water that nobody watched and insects that work the night shift.

Brisbane does not fail kitchens with fashion. It fails them with moisture, still air and hardware that was specified for a drier city. Exhaust, tanking and shade decide more than the stone sample.

Staying in a Queenslander while it is opened to the weather is a project with its own sequencing, insurance and neighbour work. The wet season does not care that the temporary kitchen is almost finished.

A pre-1946 timber house in a character overlay can take a new kitchen, a rear pavilion and a proper bathroom. It will not take a suburban project-home attitude to demolition, insulation or termites.