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| Tunnel house |
| An extension with a difference - this one goes underground! |
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You may recognise Frank Lourigan from Flora's Proactiv margarine ads. He's the man who fearlessly bungee jumps off a New Zealand bridge. Well, it seems when he's back at home in Brisbane, life's no less ordinary. He's dedicated six years to some rather unusual renovations, excavating more than 1000 tonnes of dirt to build a ten metre tunnel under his house.
The extension began when Frank decided to make the house more comfortable and private for his mother when she came to stay. It resulted in a tunnel more than ten metres long and eight metres wide. There is a wine cellar to one side and a 26 metre reinforced concrete wall underpinning the foundations.
The renovation started with a small plastic bucket and a garden spade. When there was enough room to swing a pick and shovel, Frank swapped tools and the tunnel started to grow. The compact earth soon became too hard to shift by hand. This meant buying a light duty Kango jackhammer. As Frank got deeper into the tunnel, the soil turned to rock, so he swapped his Kango for a heavy-duty Hitachi jackhammer. During the construction he wore away two shovels, two picks and three jackhammer bits.
Removing the soil and rock was hard work. The rock fell away in large pieces, too big to lift into the wheel-barrow. So, Frank invested in a sledgehammer to break the chunks of rock into smaller pieces to be wheeled out of the growing tunnel.
The extension is largely subterranean, ranging from one to three metres underground. A long yellow internal wall is actually part of the home's original foundations. Frank had to dig under this wall, then build a 26 metre long and 500mm wide reinforced concrete wall to underpin the original foundations. So the original footings weren't disturbed, he was forced to work in small sections of about 1.5 metres.
Access to the unusual renovation begins with a log-lined anteroom. This leads to the ten metre long tunnel and ends in a 3 x 2 metre wine cellar. The main feature of the wine room is the bar, made from solid River Red Gum from Echuca in Victoria.
The project has taken Frank more than six years. He spent about three years working part time on it and three years full time. The ceiling is a recent addition, done just in time for our visit.
When Frank Lourigan saw this ad in the Sydney Morning Herald, he knew he was the man for the job.
WANTED: Man required for television commercial. Must be aged 40-55 years. Must have a cholesterol level 5.5. Man must be willing to bungee jump and must have had a father die of a heart attack of about the same age.
Frank answered the ad, trialled Flora Proactiv with excellent results, and was subsequently flown to Queenstown in New Zealand to shoot the commercial.
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