At first glance, this Berkeley house had not much wrong with it: a leaky roof and some signs of mold in the garage. A closer look showed that several windows were leaking and upon inspection, extensive rot was discovered under the front bedroom window, which had affected the header for the garage door and the floor, although the floor joists themselves were intact. Still, because water travels in interesting ways inside buildings, it was decided basically to gut the structure. The plaster and lathe was removed as well as the floors on the lower level. In addition, the living room and dining room had a slope in the floor amounting to about 1 ¾”.

This enabled us to replace all the electrics as well as the plumbing which were both in sore need of an overhaul. Simultaneously we tackled the main area of damage at the front of the house. This involved opening up the front facade and replacing a lot of the interior framing. Water had come in through the roof as well as through the leaky window in the same area. The window itself was to be replaced and a recycled window was purchased for the job at a cost of $120.00.

We set about raising one side of the house to level the interior floor. To do this, the stucco had to be slit along the entire West side and the chimney separated from the main structures. Then, using a series of jacks, we raised the house, setting new studs for the cripple wall. The result was a level floor in the kitchen and dining areas. Now we could lay the new cherry wood flooring.

Once the framing was completed and the window put in, the stucco could be repaired. Inside, sheetrock had replaced the plaster lathe. After mudding and taping it, we installed the trim and painted.

The house was also earthquake retrofitted. Because of the garage situated under the bedrooms, this was not a standard affair and an engineer had to be called upon. The walls were secured with hold-downs as per the plans and then sheathed with 1/2" OSB