To bring this North Vancouver house back to life and enhance its character we needed to look at all the details it already had and use those to create a design that would make it stand out from the rest.

We built new stairs and railings front and back, repaired and replaced copious amounts of cedar shakes on the exterior walls, new roof overhang for garage along with planter boxes. New interlock paths front and back.

Old homes covered in wood will eventually rot, no matter how many coats of paint you put on them. More often than not, I see numerous layers of paint holding it together so to speak. This home which is covered entirely with cedar shakes, had some questionable renovations done in the past which changed its resistance to the elements, speeding up the rot process and making the deck, stairs and railings unsafe in the front and back.

The project started out as a simple repair to the front deck surface, but as we peeled back the layers, major structural members had completely rotted out along with the supporting column at the front which was literally hanging in mid air. The main 6x6 post which was supporting this structure from below had completely rotted out at its base, as it had been installed in direct contact with the concrete. Thus moisture had been wicking up its shaft, causing premature rot.
The structural members of the stairs(stringers) and railings had significant rot so we rebuilt two new staircases and railings, front and back.
We also replaced a questionable garage overhang with something that was more in line with its heritage appeal.