Category Excavation

After a busy summer season, we’re taking some time to recap and reflect on a current project our team is well underway with.

We are in the heart of Saint Paul with this “tear down and rebuild.” From the start this has been an exciting property to be a part of. We started by demoing the original home to make way for a new, modern house fitting the vision and needs of our homeowners.

This new home will have many state-of-the-art, unique features including:

• A modern, architectural design
• Bluestone steps and covered walks
• Green roof (“live roof”)
• Windows and insulation maximized for energy efficiency
• Cedar Siding
• White Oak Flooring
• “Stair Tower” – a floating stairway, with metal framework, wood treads
• Metal Fireplace
• And much more!

Our progress pictures help add color to this exciting story and capture the journey through real, behind-the-scenes shots. We’re looking forward to seeing the final product and sharing our “After” photos upon completion—stay tuned!

This project is the replacement of an old and aged detached garage with an attached tuck-under while adding usable living space above. This will also gain space for landscaping and esthetics in the yard while benefiting the curb appeal and live-ability of the home. Note the image at bottom after 3″ of rain.

— These imagess show the existing garage and the site plan illustrating the new relationship of the garage to the home with the new living space above.

— These images show the amount of excavation required and a computer rendering of the planned front elevation.

— The shoring up of the excavated area along the existing structure is done with large plates of steel held in place by long steel pipes driven into the soil. Stabilization of this type is critical to maintaining the integrity of existing structures. That the water is deep enough for a swim is just a bonus!

In this post we have just a couple progress pics and at the end a couple tidbits.

It was a good day to pour concrete! Here you can see the soon-to-be crawl space area on the right. The pour went exceptionally well and the great weather certainly didn’t hurt!

A morning’s start on the back porch framing and below it – later that same day a garage frame with rafters and roof sheeting!

Notice the garage has five (5) doors! A double, a single, two patios, and one service door!

On the left you can see where we cut an access to the attic above the kitchen, dining, and bathroom areas that are getting remodeled. This is so we can vacuum out all the insulation and other loose material before pulling down the ceilings. It’s a great way to minimize dust. On the right is a courtesy we extend on our projects that both our trade partners and the homeowners appreciate – out in the woods even!

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!