General Contractor-Insured-Home Improvement License-EPA Renovation firm & Technician
Two Story Addition
I built this addition for two developers who had purchased the property and wanted to enlarge the footprint in order to turn the building from a single family home into two condominiums units. The plans called for a uniquely well insulated foundation and building shell as you'll see in the photos, and also included a radiant heated concrete slab. Burlington, Vermont.
Notice the 3" thick hard foam insulation on the exterior of the home, underneath the siding:
Excavating the foundation and forming up the footing.
I used heavily insulated foam blocks to form up the concrete stem wall, and then added an additional layer of blue foam.
I'm ready to pour the radiant heated floor slab, the porch floor, three columns, a step, and a small sidewalk along the building.
Radiant concrete slabs are an effective way to heat a home.
The framing is almost finished on the left, and the building completed on the right.
The finished project from the front sidewalk. Very well-insulated, it blends into the old building.
Addition with large Basement room
This home was situated on a small lot and the zoning didn't allow for a change of footprint. Because there was a low existing deck platform off the back of the old kitchen addition I was able to include that area as a covered 'impermeable surface area' As a result I was able to include that area as a covered roofed porch area off the back of the new addition. I extended a new 400 sq ft basement room underneath that new covered porch area.
The old kitchen addition, and the new design that has a large room underneath provided with natural lighting by means of 3" thick glass blocks set into the porch floor.
This house has many close neighbors, my design allows for natural light to come through the ceiling area, which allows for privacy in the lower level windows.
The beginning of the demolition and new excavation for the lower level.
The excavation completed and the very sandy soil shored up. The footing has been poured and I've begun forming up the walls of the lower level.
The lower level has been formed up with rebar and heavily insulated forming blocks. Its almost ready for the concrete pour.
These are the glass blocks set into the porch floor which extends off the back of the new addition. The back wall of the above ground new addition rests on the steel I beam you can see in the ceiling in this photo.
The openings that the solid glass blocks are set into are wrapped in a white plastic PVC trim board. While solid glass is very durable, its can conduct heat and cold, this can lead to moisture formation in certain conditions. The PVC board isn't damaged by moisture, doesn't absorb moisture, and is an insulator. That being said, because the glass is so thick it is most often the case that the condensation point, where the freezing glass in winter meets the warm air floating against the ceiling, is at a point inside the glass itself, where there is no moisture.
The staircase descends from the kitchen into the lower room. The stair treads are open to maximize light and air flow. The windows above the stairs bring more natural light to the lower room.
The framing of the new kitchen addition.
This is What's called a cathedral ceiling, which means that there is no attic space. In a cold dominated climate, such as Burlington Vermont, where this home is located, a cathedral ceiling requires careful insulation techniques to prevent moisture formation within the ceiling cavity. It starts with a rigid foam insulation baffle against the roof decking, and then a compressed fiberglass batt designed for cathedral ceilings, and then a polyurethane moisture barrier just beneath the sheetrock to prevent moisture from migrating into the wall from the living space. As you can see from the illustration, the insulation baffle allows airflow against the roof decking, which mitigates any problems if any moisture does form there.
This addition also included a new bathroom, with a skylight.
This project started with the rebuilding of the front porch and the roof along the south side of the home. The porch area had been an unheated 3 season space and the front door to the home was inside the porch. I poured a small new foundation for the porch area, removed the interior wall and door, made it a cathedral ceiling w/ skylight, put in new double pane glass windows, and moved the entry door to the front of the house.
My clients painted their home a few years after I finished the project.
