This under house renovation on Waterworks Road in The Gap turned the open space beneath a Queenslander into finished living areas the family can use every day. What started as bare concrete, exposed joists and a tired laundry is now a series of new rooms, an additional bathroom, a modern laundry and a dedicated mud room. Menelaos and his team managed the whole build out, from structural work and framing through to linings, tiling, flooring and the final finishes.
Before: The Problem with the Under House Area
Like many Queenslanders, this home had a large area underneath that was doing very little for the household. The space had a bare concrete floor, the joists of the floor above were fully exposed, and the walls were a mix of old timber boards and unfinished framing. It offered plenty of room, but none of it was comfortable or practical to use.
The laundry was the clearest example. It sat in an unlined corner with pipes, conduits and wiring running across the walls and ceiling, weathered timber boards peeling around the window, and a single set of wall taps as the only water point. There was no bench space, no storage and nothing that made laundry day easier. The goal was to turn the entire under-house level into finished, liveable space that added real value to the home.
Project Details: How We Transformed the Under House Area
Structural Work and New Framing
Building out beneath an existing home starts with the structure. Our team installed new engineered timber beams, secured to the existing floor joists with steel joist hangers, to support the level above and allow the new room layout to work. New stud walls were then framed out to create the separate rooms, bathroom and laundry, and the external walls were wrapped in foil sarking before lining. Menelaos planned the framing around the existing window openings so each new room makes the most of natural light from outside.
Linings, Bulkheads and Finishes
Once the framing and services were in, the walls and ceiling were lined and painted, turning the open space into rooms that feel like part of the main house. Bulkheads neatly box in the new beams, so the ceiling looks finished and intentional. In one of the new rooms, a deep green feature wall adds character against the white walls, and timber-look plank flooring brings warmth underfoot. A raised tiled platform in the corner continues the patterned tile used through the laundry and mud room.
A Practical New Laundry
The old laundry was rebuilt from the frame out. New wall and ceiling linings now hide the pipework and wiring, and a stainless steel sink sits in a timber-look benchtop beneath the window, with a tall gooseneck mixer for filling buckets and rinsing muddy clothes. White shaker-style cabinets keep detergents out of sight, a dedicated space fits a front-loading washer, and teal picket gloss tiles from Beaumont Tiles wrap the splashback and corner. Beechworth Concrete Matt Floor Tiles continue up the base of the wall as a tiled skirting, so the floor can be mopped right to the edges.
A Mud Room With a Place for Everything
Next to the laundry, we created a mud room that gives the family a dedicated drop zone. White open shelving holds shoes, bags and baskets, hanging rails keep coats off the floor, and a raised tiled platform below the shelves adds another level of storage that wipes clean easily.
An Additional Bathroom
The build out also included an additional bathroom, giving the household another wet area on the lower level. With the bathroom, laundry and mud room grouped together, everything the family needs for coming and going sits in one practical zone.
The Result
The under-house level is no longer leftover space. It now holds several new rooms, a second bathroom, a modern laundry and a mud room, all finished to the same standard as the rest of the home. Finishing under-house areas is one of the most effective ways of maximising usable space during a home renovation, and this project shows how much living space a Queenslander can gain without building out or up.
Thinking About Building Out Under Your Home?
If you have an under-house area that is going to waste, Menelaos and his team can help you turn it into rooms, bathrooms or a laundry that suits the way your household lives. We handle everything from structural work and framing through to plumbing, electrical, tiling and site clean up as part of our extensions and full house renovations. Further down Waterworks Road, we also complete bathroom renovations in Red Hill and renovations across Brisbane’s north.
Give our team a call on (07) 3184 4592 or get a free quote to arrange a free onsite consultation.
