Restoring Queenslander Verandah

[KiwiSteveH]

Hi, all. I am a new member of this site and also relatively new to renovating etc, so please excuse any glaring stupidities. What a great site with so many people with such depth of knowledge, and also the patience to share it with ignorant newcomers like myself!

My wife and I live in an old Queenslander at Gordonvale, just south of Cairns. Our house was built around 1890 in Cooktown and then moved here in 1911, which would be a story in itself, given the terrain and the technology of the time. We are doing a very gradual renovation, trying to retain/restore the original features where possible, and doing all the work ourselves. We are currently working towards opening up the front verandah which at some stage has been enclosed to provide an extra room (a very long skinny one!). The original verandah posts seem to be all intact, so I am hoping the job will be relatively simple.

Two questions which are currently exercising my mind are:
1. Hardwood or treated pine for the rails and balusters? We prefer the look of wider balusters and the use of a mid-rail with one decorative baluster in each span. We have got a couple of quotes for materials, but haven't yet made up our minds. Pine balusters seem to be mainly narrower?? What would be suggested baluster/gap sizes (Spans are nearly all 2.4m)

2. How to finish/seal the floor. The existing floor is T&G but timber is unknown, presumably hardwood. It has a polished finish and a dark brown appearance. I obviously want to keep this if possible. Will we need to sand it down and re-seal it to make sure it is weather-proof? Anything else required. It does seem to have a slight slope towards the front so water would drain off.

I would really appreciate any suggestions or comments.

[sco]

If you can afford it go the hardwood. It will last much longer and will look much better and in keeping with your existing house. I'm renovating my 1920's Qlder and I mistakenly didn't specify hardwood for some of the work and pink prime pine was used. Ended up ripping it out and replacing with hardwood as I didn't like the appearance.

[pawnhead]

Well if you want to save some money and you've got a few tools, then just buy some hardwood fencing. A 1.8m paling will give you two wide balusters at 900mm. Dress down the palings with a planer or a belt sander. Rip them in half for narrow balusters. Put three narrow ones, then one full width one. You can put two holes in the wider ones with a hole saw, and join them together with a saw cut. Use a dressed down 3 X 2 fence rail for the bottom rail. Rebate it to accept the balusters. Router a slot in the underside of the top rail to accept the balusters, and fancy up the corners with a router, making it look like a moulded handrail.
I think the code calls for a maximum spacing of 125mm between balusters, but I'm not sure. I think ausdesign would probably be up to date on that one if you ask him. Minimum height is 1 metre nowadays.

It will look really sexy and probably cost you a fraction of the price of fancy laser cut balusters and pre moulded handrails.

[ausdesign]

125mm

[journeyman Mick]

If you're painting your balusters then the pink primed pine is fine and will save you some prep work. It's amazing how many places were moved around and how far they moved them with just bullock teams. There's a house in edge hill which used to be the Irvinebank school house. A house I lived in for a while was moved a few hundred metres by some of the previous owners because they liked the aspect better in the other spot. Might have been a case of "darling, I've rearranged the furniture a few times now and it's just not working, can we try the house 300 metres that way please?"

Mick