Mullumbimby’s Flood Resilient Home 2025

Mullumbimby’s Flood Resilient Home

After the major flooding of the Northern Rivers on February 2022 I sought expert advice and rebuilt my brick veneer, slab on ground home, so it’s flood resilient.
This means after a similar or even worse flood in the future, the kitchen and bathroom will not need to be ripped out. This means whoever is living in the house will not have to live elsewhere for 1-2 years like I and my two boys did and many of our neighbours.
After a flood we plan to remove the form ply skirting boards to expose the void behind them, gently hose out the mud, turn on industrial fans (for a while no doubt) and the kitchen cupboards are removable and water proof so they will just need cleaning before getting put back.
This unique kitchen design is the most important element of our resilient strategy. When kitchen cabinets are not loadbaring for the benchtop – with the relocation of an underbench oven to be above the bench -you maintain all the functionality of the kitchen if flooding is under the height of the stove electronics.
My bathrooms had their pine frame walls cut out and replaced by concrete block walls to half height. This created a fortress that drops flood waters getting behind the waterproofing in the showers or trapped under the bath.
The slab was beautifully polished and dado rails used to hide the depth gap where fibre cement sheet replaced gyprock on internal walls. A return to free standing cupboards under floating timber bathroom benches gives a stylish finish to what are completely renovated bathroom spaces.
There had to be an upside to the trauma that is having your home flood!
I helped my town follow suit. See mullumcares.org.au for more info.