Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 13, 2010 6:06 pm Found this forum while searching the web for evidence of successful siting variation (height relaxation) applications submitted to (and approved by) the Brisbane City Council. What a wonderful resource! We have a 1970s-era 'portal framed' highset timber house on a large sloped block in the Western suburbs. Due to highly reactive soil, poor lot grading and more than a decade without rain gutters (they corroded due to poor maintenance and were removed by the previous owner), the perimeter piers supporting the house have subsided. The piers protected from rain have not subsided; consequently, the floors are now crowned, 2cm gaps have appeared between the sole plate and T&G flooring, and the plasterboard interior cladding is cracking. To address this problem, we will first re-contour the lot and fit new gutters. We were then thinking of pouring a monolithic slab to replace the individual piers. To make this investment worthwhile, we had hoped to place an understory extension for 'unhabitable' activities (laundry room, second bathroom, and storage) on this slab--until I obtained the flood report for the property from the BCC's website. Given the defined flood level, we would need to raise the house 1.1m to provide a legal floor height and 2.4m ceiling clearance for this 'unhabitable' understory. This would be fine, except that the home's roof ridge is already 8m above the existing ground line (we had the lot and structure surveyed; whether the existing ground line is the 'natural' ground line is still being investigated; lots of filling has been done in this neighbourhood). My question to the forum is this: have any of you been successful with an application to the BCC to relax their 8.5m height restriction? I don't want to throw away $1260 on an application which is certain to fail. I note that the houses on either side of us both have roof ridges higher than our own. The surveyor has determined that one is 0.9m higher when measured from the AHD (Australian height datum). Would this fact lend strength to our application? Any experience/insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated. If your patio is going to be 35 sqm then that's going to need Council Approval. The fact that they previously approved your 25sqm patio will be irelevant 1 5494 That is a really good attitude Akin to you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I do enjoy watching that tik tok inspector from Victoria but he does go a little… 12 81766 Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. The builder deconstructs the section and rebuilds as per plan /… 7 10605 |