Railings

The railing cables arrived on site and the crew will install them in the next few days. can't wait to share the final look.

Metal tubes & frames

Feeney Cables

Insulation & R-values

One the feature of this renovation, is that the existing house & the additions are very well insulated and air tight. To achieve this, we removed the existing wall & ceiling batt insulation and used spray-foam insulation in between the roof rafters, blow-in spider insulation in the exterior walls and spray- foam insulation on the exterior crawl space walls. The R-values meet the new International Energy Conversation Codes requirements. The blower door test (to verify how air-tight the house is) will be performed at the end of this week, and we will share the results with you.

Blow-in spider insulation

Details: cantilevered west addition

We extended the existing house to the west, and aligned it with the setback line. The added interior spaces provides a larger Master Closet, a master shower and a larger Guest Bedroom. To create a floating effect, for support we used the existing west foundation walls, and cantilevered the structure with (4) 4x4 steel posts. 

Garage door

The garage door was delivered and installed last Friday. The overhead door is 20' wide (2 car entry), with a custom 2x6 garapa board finish.

Outside view

Inside view

Outside detail

Details

Great detail at the west cantilevered addition: note the "Y" steel post, Azek trim, stucco finish, aluminum stucco trims, glass block wall and frosted operable window into the shower.

Front door

The teak pivot front door is installed.

View towards the backyard

View towards the street

Before & After - Main Entry

The construction of the garapa entry porch is almost complete and the custom pivot teak door will be installed by the end of this week.

Main entry - Fall 2012

Main entry - April 2012

Before/After - South Facade

The deck & storage are almost complete. The new large windows open the house to the backyard.

Before/After - Front facade

Before & after front facade.

Front facade last year - before the construction started

Front facade this week - during construction (05.05.14)

Before/After Crawl Space & basement access

The existing house had a very small access to a shallow crawl space. The HVAC unit & HWH were barely accessible. 

For the new design, the Owner got a full height gardening area below the addition, we dug out part of the crawl space to create a full height mechanical room, and cleaned the rest of the crawl space and covered it with gravel and protection membrane.

Existing crawl space access

New Basement access

Interior

One can enjoy wonderful views of the backyard, the moment you step into the house. The attached image is a picture from the Foyer looking towards the Living Room.

Wood Flooring - Nothing goes to waste

The Owners loved their original red oak floors and mentioned they would love to keep it. Because we hate wasting beautiful existing materials, during demolition the crew removed, salvaged and stored the existing wood flooring.

Last week they carefully installed the original wood flooring in the common areas of the house: Foyer, Living Area, Dining & Corridor. In the rest of the house (Bedrooms & Office) we will install a new red oak flooring that will match the size, layout, color & finish of the existing one as much as possible.

Driveway pavers

The crew finished the concrete apron, driveway strips and turnaround area installation. 

Driveway & turnaround area

A couple of months ago we selected the driveway pavers and a pervious installation method to allow the water to percolate between the pavers and drain back into the ground. 

See post: http://ranchstyleredux.blogspot.com/2014/01/samples.html  

The crew worked all last week to prepare for their installation (dug out dirt, level area, fill & grade west side of the property, install forms for the concrete curb around the driveway strips and the turnaround area, purchase all the materials necessary, etc) 

 

Retaining stone wall

The retaining Crab Orchard stone walls in the back are complete. They create a beautiful access way for the Garden Room Area.

Stucco colors

Remember the stucco mock-ups I shared a few weeks ago? See in the attached photo our final color choices: the stucco work is complete on the house and the colors are so vibrant.

Details & materials

The crew is currently working on the deck garapa louvered wall and the stair. The louvers and screen hide the storage area under the deck but also create a beautiful horizontal lines that tie into the garapa stair steps & risers.

The brick used for this patio was salvaged during demolition from the existing house. This is a great way to reuse an existing material and a create a nice memory for the Owners of the house they lived in for more than 20 years.

Salvage & reuse existing materials

Remember all those bricks we removed from the existing house and stored on site in big piles? See attached the new brick walkway built using the existing salvaged brick. Nothing goes to waste!

South facade

A lot of work happening in the back yard this last few weeks.

Landscape

New stone steps installed on the east side of the house. In the next few days we will use the existing salvaged brick to create a beautiful brick patio & walkway.