Category Front Porch

Showcase Renovation Receives Prestigious ROMA Award In 2014!

Our thanks to all who contributed to the beautiful results this project achieved. Especially to Dave Wagner of SALA Architects for his outstanding design and detail work.

Stephen Roche, President of Showcase Renovation, with this year’s ROMA Award. This award honors the professional remodeler for excellence in the work they do, recognizing creativity, design, and the remodeler’s ability to meet the client’s requirements.

This porch renovation has exquisite detail with many unique features. The design includes Corten stairs, a wood floor landing area and timber columns and beams.
Craftsmanship is displayed throughout and is exemplified by beam installation, column connections, flashing details, and period-appropriate clear Fir flooring. Traditional crown moldings flow from the existing roof to the new roof. Innovation is demonstrated throughout this beautiful porch and entry. Visit our project page to learn more about this winning porch renovation!

This St. Louis Park Addition Exterior is close to completion. The garage door and exterior lighting fixtures will be here soon and the deck rail to the back stairs will be installed as well.

An important part of this project was accomplishing the homeowner’s goals while matching the architectural style, colors and materials of the existing home.

When the landscaping and plantings are in, this St. Louis Park addition will blend wonderfully and really look as if it was built as part of the original house. Our sincere thanks and kudos to Bryan Anderson and SALA ARCHITECTS for their design work on this project.

That’s what makes a renovation a Showcase Renovation!

The framing is complete and even includes a bonus crawl space between the new construction and the existing structure. Some photos during the progress.

— You can see the steel beam (we used a crane to set this one) used to support the deck and framing above the garage. And a shot of the rough framing when complete.

— This is definitely a room with a view! The room above the garage not only provides a great view of nature but there is a wonderful deck for enjoying the view from the outside. This deck will wrap-around the addition and there is an extra wide overhang to provide shade and protection from the elements.

This stage of the project shows the poured concrete foundation walls and cement block walls where appropriate. These concrete walls will give a finished ceiling of over 10′ for this St. Louis Park attached garage addition when completed.

— On the left is the foundation ready to be capped. On the right is a shot of two poured columns with core filled block on top in anticipation of supporting a wrap-around deck.

— These two images show the cap load – called that because the lumber is used to put the initial cap on the foundation. And a look from the top in the back showing the reinforced concrete wall with insulating drainage board (R value of 5) over watchdog H3 waterproofing.

— And of course none of this happens without some carpenters that are ready to go!

The demolition has taken place. The first image shows some of the demo in prep for a new exterior finish on the home. It will include siding replacement with new soffit and facia as well as a new front entry deck and bay window treatment. The second shows the beginning of the end for the existing garage.

A brief display of machine against garage.

As you might expect, the machine won handily, resulting in a clean job site for excavation in preparation for the concrete footings and cement block work.

This last shot shows some of the existing cement block and foundation that has been left in place in as part of what will become a very sizable crawl space. We’ll show you a pic of the crawl space in our next post as well as a finished concrete slab!

This project incorporates remodeling a kitchen, adding/remodeling a bathroom, adding new space, a crawl space, as well as some exterior updating and improvements. It takes place in Corcoran, a Northwest Twin Cities suburb just west of Maple Grove and Plymouth. Read a homeowner’s summary here.

We’ll cover the project as it goes and try to keep it interesting and informative. We start with demolition and some of the preparation that good contractors employ when starting a project like this.

The porch you see will be re-built, the siding replaced, and the garage removed as well as a 4 season porch and other structure in back.

Notice the removal of windows, doors, and any glass or other items that can present a hazard during and after the demolition – best practice for any demo job where people live and work, especially when there are children around.

Of note in this image is placement of the cuts for separation of the demolished portion:

siding

wall sheeting

gutter

shingles

roof plywood

soffit
As well as cuts you don’t see that remove interior ties from the garage to house, including termination of any plumbing supply lines or vents and any wiring. Notice the ‘very sticky’ tape covering the shingle cut – a nice detail against water damage should the weather turn on us.

A brief video of the roof cut being made – getting through shingle, shingle felt, and the plywood or oriented strand board (OSB).

NEXT UP: DEMOLITION!