A complete gut revealed 1930’s era framing techniques that spoke to the history of the home in this North University remodel and addition. It’s amazing to see how building standards have changed and this house was a perfect example!

The framing standard back then was 48” on center studs with shiplap cladding to form the shear walls and 1.5” thick pine for the floors nailed directly to the pier and beam joists. There was no subfloor; there was no insulation; and the studs were true 2”x4” instead of the nominal 2x4’s (1.5”x3.5”) used today. This meant that we had to remove large sections of shiplap at the walls in order to replace all the outdated electrical and plumbing. Because the a lot of the shiplap came off, we needed shore up the framing with more modern techniques (16” on center spacing). We brought all the mechanicals up to code. We removed the old mudset style tile at the bathroom and updated it with new tile.

There was a lot of history in that house, so we kept the existing layout mostly as is and installed a new pier and beam addition to the back of the house to increase the square footage. There was a tiny kitchen was in the back corner of the house, but by removing the back wall, we were able to extend it out into the addition for a more moderately sized kitchen to meet the needs of today’s families. With limited space, parking was an issue in this area of North University, but we were able to squeeze in a new carport which allowed the new owners some protection and consistency from having to rely on street parking in the front of the house.