OUR BLOG
OUR BLOG
Check out what’s happening with Myers Constructs as well as the latest news and trends in home renovation.
The Right Approach to Concrete Slabs
We spent part of last week laying the concrete slab foundation for our new Fairmount kitchen addition. As you can see from the images here, this process involves pouring concrete into a form and ensuring a level and sturdy base upon which to build. [nivoslider id="13682"] The pros of using concrete slabs are: they stay cool in summer, they are solid, and they are not terribly expensive. The cons? The condition of the ground below and around the slab is communicated through the concrete. That means they can get damp in any season, and they are very cold in the winter. When you work with slabs, you need to keep these facts in mind. Thankfully, modern construction methods have ways to deal with these downsides. For this project, we laid down a vapor barrier and more than 2 inches of foam insulation below the foundation. This will keep it isolated[...]
Remodeling Homes of a Certain Age
I recently ran across this article detailing the amazing restoration of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Boynton House in Rochester, NY. In the interview for PBS, homeowner Fran Cosentino said, "You wouldn't expect to drive a 100-year-old car on the road without a complete overhaul. The same is true for a 100-year-old house." This sentiment rings true for us every day. Homes of a certain age simply have complicated interrelated issues and problems. And sometimes, those problems have been covered up, their solutions put off for a very long time. The homeowners know that a proper fix will be a major undertaking, and they often just don't know where or when to start. You may already be following our progress on a beautiful 19th-century Italianate-style Fairmount-area house project. We were called in to restore a storm-damaged cupola bay and attend to a series of other complicated and interrelated projects throughout the[...]
Fairmount Whole-House Project: The Week in Pictures
Our Fairmount project is a beehive of activity this week as we frame out the new laundry room, pour a new concrete kitchen floor, install a breakfast room window opening, and remove and replace historically correct insulated windows! [nivoslider slug="fairmount-project-week-in-pictures-slider"]
Your Home: Playing It Cool When Temperatures Rise
Older homes tend to get a bad rap for being energy inefficient, but the truth is, many older homes have built-in energy-saving systems that homeowners can use to their advantage, particularly at this time of year. The vast majority of older homes are built from stone or brick with thick walls that retain heat in the winter and cool in the summer by way of their mass. Often, these houses also have small windows on the third floor or attic that are meant not only to allow light into the house, but also to allow hot air out during the summer. Opening these small windows creates negative pressure inside the house, which then draws cool air from the basement, where temperatures hover between 60 and 70 degrees at this time of year. This cooling air convection, combined with the thermal mass of the brick or stone, means many of these[...]
Renovation Challenge: Flood Zone
We recently received a call from a homeowner in an area of metro Philadelphia that is a notorious flood zone. In fact, this property owner told us his Schuylkill River waterfront property has been flooded out three times during the past five years alone! This homeowner called us after learning that his insurance company was going to "total" his house unless he could find a way to renovate to flood-proof it. His goal is to be able to power wash the debris away after any future flooding and quickly get back to living. That kind of solution is common at the shore, where we see houses on pilings and with blow-out walls on the first floor. However, the following elements are at play here: This house is in a historic area, so The Philadelphia Historic Commission will need to approve the homeowner's plans. The home abuts neighboring houses, so engineering[...]
Home Gyms: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
When it comes to creating a home gym, we often face a design dilemma: Where do you put it so folks will use it? We tend to think that locating exercise space in a garage or basement is just ... meh. We often find that those musty storage areas are uninviting, and they don't motivate homeowners to want to use them. In our own home, we keep our workout gear in our den because we find it to be so much nicer and easier to use there. Of course, this means the equipment has to look good, or at least nice enough that it looks like a feature rather than an eyesore. We can usually accomplish this for our project homes, too; it just requires a little extra thought and planning. One client of ours, who is a business consultant and investor, has his equipment in his very large cherry-lined[...]
Is Your New Kitchen Stocked With These 12 Cooking Essentials?
We find that many of our clients enjoy a renewed love of cooking in their freshly renovated kitchens. As a result, many of them tend to replenish their culinary tools and supplies — but are challenged when trying to find the right balance of kitchen equipment and controlled clutter. Here, local culinary blogger Kate Donegan, aka The Philly Foodist, shares with us her advice for stocking an efficient kitchen so you’re well prepared to cook any recipe in your new space. 1. Cooking Knives — Professional cooks treat their knives with the highest care and respect, with good reason: They are the most important kitchen tools. If you can, buy your knives one at a time, avoiding “sets” and “no sharpening needed” varieties. Begin with a good chef's knife, a serrated knife, and a paring knife. 2. Mixing Bowls — A set of both glass and stainless steel mixing bowls[...]
The Home Remodeling Timeline
Myers Constructs featured on Pennsylvania Homes.
In the Works: Whole-House Rewire
This week, our crew is hard at work on our Fairmount-area comprehensive home renovation. As you can see in this image, they are installing a completely new wiring system leading from the basement to various different rooms in the home. This house, which had insufficient old knob and tube wiring, used to have only gas lights! Shown are the wire ends that will be attached to the service panel (which is out of view, right next to our photographer). Some of these will connect to second- and third-floor bedrooms, where they will supply power for lights and outlets. Others, like the 220v yellow line, will supply power to major appliances, like the range in the new kitchen. To simplify the process, all of the lines are labeled on both ends of the runs!
Design-Build Restoration: The Sum of Many (Moving) Parts
We are currently working on a complex Fairmount area project with many smaller elements that all tie together. We are redoing a kitchen and breakfast room; removing an outhouse and old pantry; making a small addition into the yard; renovating a second-floor laundry/bathroom; correcting the drains and electric leading from each of those areas into the basement, replacing the house's main drains and soil lines; and restoring a storm-damaged cupola bay — and likely fixing collateral damage done to a roof, roof deck, and skylights. When we first visited the house, the homeowners told us they'd been thinking about a whole-house renovation for a long time. But, like many people considering such projects, they didn't really know where to start. Mother Nature gave them their first step when a major storm tossed a huge tree limb at their cupola/bay, leading them to call us for help. A few years ago,[...]
