West Hill Builders

projects

Location: Ingonish, Nova Scotia
Year Constructed: 2007
Construction: Conventional Stud Framing
with Foundation and Curtain Drain Improvements

PHOTO GALLERY

The family’s summer home has stood for over a hundred years in the harsh north Atlantic climate. The house has post and beam construction. The main portion of the house has an 8 inch crawl-space and the house sits on large rocks at the corners. The Kitchen addition was added 80 years ago and has a small hollowed out basement hole but the dirt walls have been caving in for years threatening the stability of the kitchen. In a multi faceted project, the foundation was sured up, a curtain drain system was installed to draw surface and roof water away from the building, a new storage shed and deck was added, and a the house was re-plumbed, water heater added, and outdoor shower installed.

The fisrt task was to solve the caving in of the walls to the cellar hole. Excavating and building suspended footing walls braced to the structure allowed a curtain drain system solid footing to then take the surface and roof runoff down and away from the building.

The project also involved re-structuring the existing kitchen, pantry, and storage shed areas which prompted the need to add a small addition to the building to house fire wood, the clothes washer etc… Then to tie it all together, a new deck was constructed that included an outdoor shower. The decking is 1x4 cedar, as are the walls of the shower

The design of the building and the systems that went into was a collaborative process with the owner and addressed many different needs and concerns. During the construction process, the owner was able to make several changes that led to a space that worked better than the original design – one of the advantages of using a design build firm.

Due to the location, a limited amount of time in Nova Scotia was allotted and the owner did much of the finish work on the structure. You also see a temporary stair in place in the final pictures. The building was re-plumbed with PEX tubing and a removable outdoor shower assembly was constructed to allow the owner to remove the assembly at the end of the summer.

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