Bathrooms

From this:

To this:

Let me design and build your dream bathroom! 

 

Siding

Tiling

Tile is a resilient and classic choice for walls, floors, and showers.  

Storage

Closets:

While they aren't exactly the flashiest feature of a home, closet are a vital part of a home that can add significant value and utility.

Whether you need to redesigning existing closets with custom shelves and clothes rods to fits your needs or transform an unused corner of your house into a new closet, I'd be happy to help you design storage space that works for you!

Built in shelving:

Designing and building these new bookshelves in this historic home was fun and rewarding!  The window seat opens up for added storage.  Lights installed in the crown molding add ambiance and make it easy to browse the books.

Flooring

Flooring has a big impact on the look and feel of a room.  Installing new flooring can also be a significant investment so it's worth taking your time to fully consider the benefits of different types of flooring.  

Wood flooring is beautiful and relatively soft, making it easier to stand and walk on than tile or concrete.  Solid wood flooring can be expensive but has the potential to last an extremely long time.  Since the entire board is made of the finish wood the floor can be sanded and refinished a number of times before it needs to be replaced with a new floor.  This effectively produces a brand new floor without the material and labor investment of installing new flooring.  There are also a great many quality engineered floors that combine real wood or other material veneers over various substrates.  These floors cannot be refinished like solid floors but provide great looking floors and are less likely to warp the way natural wood does making installation easier.  

Oak, maple, pine and fir are the species of wood most commonly milled into flooring.  However, if you go looking you can find all kinds of exotic species of flooring!  Aside from the look of the floor, the species will determine the hardness of the floor.  A harder floor will be more difficult to damage.  

Pre-finished or unfinished?  Most flooring comes pre-finished these days.  This means that the individual pieces of flooring are coated with polyurethane in a factory.  Unfinished flooring would be sanded and finished on site after installation.  Generally, it is more cost effective to use pre-finished flooring.  It also reduces the amount of time you (and your things) need to be out of the room where the floor is being installed.  Finally, finishing in the factory allows the temperature and humidity to be controlled precisely during the curing which, arguably, can lead to an optimal coating.  A benefit of sanding and finishing in place is that the floor can be absolutely flat.  Since pre-finished floors are not sanded (and, therefore, flattened) in place they have to have a small chamfer (a diagonal cut) along the edges where they meet the next piece.  

Sanding revitalizes a 100 year old red oak floor!  

new pre-finished solid maple flooring

High moisture areas are not ideal for wood flooring.  Although wood floors are often successfully used in kitchens and bathrooms care needs to be taken to clean any standing water immediately.  Wood is an organic material and can rot.  For this reason, it is a good idea to consider tile, linoleum, or vinyl flooring in basements, bathrooms, and kitchens.  There are many types of flooring made from engineered materials that look like wood and are impervious to water.  Often these are also so-called "floating floors" which means that pieces of flooring are connected to the rest of the floor but not the sub flooring below.  This makes them a great choice for installing over concrete floors.

Here I transitioned from wood to tile for the bathroom.  

There are lots of ways to transition from one type of flooring to another.  Ideally your floors will all be on the same plane (as above) but, if not, transition strips can be made or purchased to link the floors together smoothly.  

Also consider tile for an entryway where snowy boots or rainy umbrellas can make this a high moisture part of the house.

Interior Trim

A coped joint is the most elegant and durable way to join interior trim at a room's inside corners.  One piece of trim is cut square and meets the corner while the other is cut to meet the profile of the first.  

To make the joint, I first miter the correct end of a piece of trim stock to expose the profile as below.  

I use a coping saw (the tool in the picture above) to saw away the majority of the waste.  This operation need not be exact.  Rather, I aim to leave 1/16th of an inch and use an assortment of files to perfect the profile.  

This is how the joint meets up:

Here is another example of a coped joint.  Here I am installing picture molding, an old style of crown molding and the profile is more complex.  

cut the miter

the profile is revealed

cut away the waste

it's helpful to check the joint's fit on a scrap

Exterior Painting

My process for exterior maintenance repainting or restaining is as follows.

Before I begin, I remove the storm windows.  

Next, I scrape any loose or cracked paint, stain, caulk, window glazing, and other materials.  I identify areas in need of repair and likely causes of the various paint failures.  For instance, if paint is peeling in large sheets on the outside of a bathroom wall, I would think that moisture from the bathroom may have caused the failure.  A vent fan may be in order.  Or, if paint is peeling in large strips uniformly and the lap boards in wood siding have been caulked where they overlap (a common mistake in house painting) the caulk must be removed.  The siding must be able to "breath" out water vapor trapped in the house.  If the paint has peeled immaturely, as in the case of isolated or systemic moisture related peeling, I feather the edges between the bare wood and the paint with a sander to reduce the visual impact of the transition and ensure optimal adhesion.  

Second, I replace or repair siding or trim as necessary and recommend modifications, where applicable, to better protect the deteriorated areas in the future.  

Third, I wash every surface of the house.  For this step, I use detergent, bleach, and a scrub brush.  I do not use a power washer.  I strongly prefer the control, thoroughness, and limited saturation offered by washing a house by hand.  Water and dirt are not forced into the wood, allowing faster drying, less damage to wood fibers, a closer inspection process, and a cleaner house.  

Once the moisture meter indicates that the house is dry enough to appropriately accept paint, I begin priming.  I prime all areas or parts depending on the condition of the house.  

After priming, I apply glazing compound if restoring original windows.  

Next, I brush two coats on the trim and windows.  Finally, I roll on and brush out two coats on the siding.  I brush out paint because, in my experience, it seems to provide the best coverage with the least unnecessary paint build up, the best adhesion and, in my opinion, the best appearance possible.  

Last, I wash the window sashes, storm panes and screens, make any necessary repairs or replacements, and put the storm windows back in.