RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
Our house is built across the road from a flood-prone river. When we applied for a building permit, the local drainage board asked us to make the floor level above the 50-year flood level. So the house sits on cantilevered piles, driven up to 6m into the ground, which lift it more than a metre above the section. There are stairs to the front door and to the back deck, which I bought second hand from a private girls’ school.
The stairs were the fire escape from the
