One of the specialties of the Indoor Outdoor Guy Renovations is restoring character homes to their original craftsman styles. This includes using Vancouver’s heritage colors or a different color scheme if the client desires, restoring exposed beam work, including post and beam and cedar arches and knee braces. Adding decorative wooden or fiber cement shakes to the gables and removing existing vinyl siding to reveal the original bevel cedar siding or replacing the existing cedar siding if damaged with new bevel cedar siding, or Hardi fibre-cement siding. We also address existing structural concerns in character homes by installing new drain tile systems, adding additional concrete to strengthen weaknesses in the old foundations and in some cases adding structural items and concrete where they should have been in the first place. Many porches on the front of early 1900 character homes have sunk because they did not have the correct concrete footings installed when they were built. We rectify this by digging down to the hardpan and installing a new concrete footing to correctly manage the weight of the porch.
During the renovation process, we often replace the existing electrical and plumbing systems where necessary or when the client desires. Many of the homes that we have worked on, especially some of the hundred year old homes found in New Westminster, require drain tile work. We also transform mid-century homes to craftsman style homes. One of our projects involved transforming a one story WW2 bungalow into a two story with basement character home. If the roof lines of your home have a high pitch then the transformation can be relatively cost effective, when compared to the return on investment that the renovation will bring. If you would like a free consultation on transforming your existing home in Vancouver into a character home or restoring your existing character home please contact us at 604-277-5572 or through our website’s contact page
For this project we transformed a single story bungalow into a two story character home with a full basement suite. For more photos of this renovation please visit: View conversion of bungalow to two story, Craftsman home.
This project involved removing the vinyl siding on the outside of this character home and replacing it with new hardi-siding and installing new window casings, door casings, band boards, fascia boards, trim boards and soffit. Other craftsman details such as decorative posts, knee braces, and squares were added to the front of the home to complete the look.For more photos of this renovation please visit: View Brulot residence character home restoration.
This renovation involved a completely new building envelope for this existing character home. New doors, windows, hardi siding, window casings, band boards, and railings were installed as part of the new building envelope. A brand new front porch, large rear deck, and small rear porch cover were also added to this home as part of the renovation. For more photos of this renovation please visit: View Erickson character home restoration and addition.
We look forward to meeting with you and discussing your renovation or new construction project. Please feel free to give us as little or as much information as you choose.