Adding powerpoints to a Queenslander: how to do it without ruining the floors

Queenslanders are the prettiest homes in Brisbane and the most painful to wire. Single-skin tongue-and-groove walls, no wall cavities to fish through, original VEV wiring still in the roof, and a floor that's usually sitting on stumps with another room built in underneath. Here's how I do them properly.

Queenslander wiring 101

A traditional Queenslander has:

• Tongue-and-groove single-skin internal walls, there's no cavity behind the boards, the boards are the wall.
• Original VEV / cotton-sheath wiring in the roof from the 30s-50s. Almost always due replacement.
• A high ceiling and a deep underfloor space, ironically the two best places to run new cable.
• Timber floors that show every nail and gap, patching is visible.

What makes them tricky

• You can't fish through walls because there's no cavity.
• You can't take up boards without splintering them.
• You can't cut chases into the boards without ruining the look.
• The original wiring is often perished and unsafe to work near.
• Heritage / character protections may apply in some streets.

So the question is, where can you run cable?

The Voltech approach

For 90% of Queenslander GPO additions, the right answer is:

1. Drop the cable down from the roof space through the wall plate at the top of the wall.
2. Run it inside the wall vertically, for skirting-mount or chair-rail-mount outlets we can usually drop down behind a stud and exit at floor level.
3. For mid-wall outlets (e.g. kitchen splashbacks), come down a stud cavity (yes, even single-skin walls have stud cavities, they're just narrow and require careful work).
4. For floor-level GPOs at exterior walls, run from underneath through the floor plate.

We use a 4mm timber-shoe drill for the cleanest possible exit hole, and we patch with matching tongue-and-groove and stain to match.

A real Bulimba job

A Bulimba renovation client wanted 8 new powerpoints in a 1928 Queenslander. 3 in the kitchen, 2 in the master bedroom, 1 in the lounge, 2 outside on the deck.

Plan:

• Kitchen, drop down from the roof, run behind the new tile splashback (still being installed), exit at bench height.
• Master bedroom, drop from the roof, exit behind bed and behind a wall lamp.
• Lounge, drop from the roof, exit at skirting board height.
• Deck, run through the floor plate, out into the underfloor, up into the deck post.

Total job: 7 hours, 1 visit, $1,890 fitted, all old VEV in the roof flagged for a separate rewire conversation.

The kitchen GPOs were ready before the splashback tiler arrived. The bedroom GPOs are invisible behind the bed. The deck GPO is in a custom timber post mount and weatherproof.

If you've got a Queenslander you want to add power to without ruining it. book a Voltech quote, or call 0411 054 811. We do these every week and we know what we're doing.

, John