Mark and Carol's Exterior overhaul
This project turned out amazing! We started this project by removing all the vinyl siding, from the entire house. After all the vinyl siding was removed, we went around the entire house and removed all the rotten siding and we also removed the bottom few rows of siding. On the bottom few rows we installed new siding, because the new siding didn't match 100%. It looked good to use on the bottom few rows, but didn't work to replace one piece in the middle of a wall. To replace rotten or damaged siding, we used the original siding that we removed from the bottom few rows. Next we went through the entire house and sanded all the old paint off the siding. The hardest part was removing all the built up paint in the groove right before the next piece of siding overlaps. Once we had all the rotten siding replaced, and all the original siding sanded to remove all the old paint. Next we re-installed all the trim around the windows. Once all the siding was either sanded or replaced, then it was time to wash the house and prepare for paint. Then we used an oil based exterior wood primer to seal the wood and help to bond to the wood to the new paint. Then we painted the entire house with a latex paint. This project was a giant undertaking, but it felt so good to restore this house to its original beauty.
Michael and Evon's garage loft addition
When Michael came to me and told me he wanted to take the roof off his garage and add a second floor addition, I said, I always wanted to do that! First we needed to make sure the existing structure could handle the weight of a second floor. After some detailed analysis we decided that we had the proper support to go onward and upward. We started by Installing a giant beam that would support the front of the existing roof, and support our exterior wall. We had to work with the historic district in San Marcos, and they required that the front of the roof remain the same, to make the house look similar to its original construction. Once we had the beam in place, we build our subfloor. The existing garage roof was quite tall, around 14' off the concrete slab to the ridge. So we decked our subfloor then we removed 3/4 of the original roof and kept the front 1/4 of the roof intact to appease the historic district. Once the roof was removed we started building the new roof. This went quick. Soon the roof was built and we had all the interior walls installed. Then we dried the new loft in, so that no moisture could get into the new space. Once the room was dried in, we had electrical, plumbing and HVAC installed. While the trades where working on the inside we worked on installing new siding on all the new exterior walls we built. Next we installed all the windows. Next came the spray foam insulation. Soon sheetrock was on the walls and it was starting to look like a nice space. Next we tiled the bathroom floor and the shower. Then everything got painted. For the finished floor in the loft, we reused the origianl decking that was on the roof that we removed. Once all the flooring was installed we coated it a few times with a floor grade polyurethane to preserve the wood and give it a beautiful luster. We installed oak treads on the stairs going into the loft. and trimmed out all the doors and windows. All interior doors that we used, where all reconditioned solid wood doors that we built frames for. This was a really fun project to be able to take on, check out the video we made to see a walk through of the finished project.
Kenneth's Lake House
This House was a massive undertaking. The first time I looked at this house, it looked like a finished house. From the outside everything was painted and finished. But as soon as I walked inside I was standing in a house that still needed everything to be finished out on the inside. This house is 5,000 sqft if you include the attached garage. So we were hired to finish the house out. we Split the master bedroom in half and created a new bathroom for one of the bedrooms. We also added another bathroom on the first floor. We moved the laundry room. Installed a hidden laundry shoot that goes straight to a cabinet that a hamper could be hidden in. We installed another layer of plywood subfloor so that hard wood flooring could be installed. One of the other changes was to turn the covered patio area into a great room. Once we finished this, we added a covered deck off of the new great room. We also added a built in bench in the loft above the garage. A swimming pool was installed in the front, so we installed a pool deck and awning. This project had lots of customizations that made it custom for Kenneth and his family. Once we had all the changes made, we had the electrician come through and wire up the entire house. Most of the plumbing had all ready been run, so we only needed to plumb the new bathrooms, and laundry room. Once all the plumbing and electrical where finished we had the entire house insulated with spray foam insulation. Then it was time to install the sheetrock. This was a massive job, I don't think I have ever seen more sheetrock on one jobsite before. I just love this phase, because you can start to see everything take shape. You can really see how things are going to look. Once all the sheetrock was installed, taped floated and textured. Then everything got painted. When it came time to install the trim everything was stained to match the color of the hardwood floors. So for this process every piece of trim was ran through the planner, then coated with stain, and two coats of polyurethane. Alot of work went into every piece of trim before it was installed. Once the hardwood floors got installed, then the house really started looked amazing. From Custom cabinets, to a commercial grade floors on the first floor, this project turned out spectacular. Check out our pictures from this project, to see the progress from the beggining to the flawless finish.
