Hale Creek » Project Blog — Hale Creek

A 5 year old house with issues

Bryan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:51:49 +0000

San Jose East Foothills

This house was built about 2004/2005. The master bathroom on the second story shower was incorrectly installed — it leaked.

The builder sent a handyman to caulk the pan and subsequently accused the homeowner of not maintaining the grout.

This damage has nothing to do with homeowner negligence. This is builder negligence and poor construction!

The homeowner called us.

After demo here’s what we found:

What’s terrible about this is that the structural I-beams (TJI) supporting the second floor are damaged too.

You can see the brown paper of the drywall under Joe here.

This means work downstairs too to fix the I-beams.

The picture below show the kitchen ceiling. We had to relocate lights, plumbing, then rebuild the I-Joists with the oversight of an Archtiect/Structural Engineer/Building Inspector. All of this work took place above a fancy kitchen island while the family lived in the house and used the kitchen.

It was nice twenty years ago…

Bryan — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 05:36:55 +0000

Downtown Los Altos Kitchen:
Just closed escrow, they tossed the keys to us, and left the country.
We’re doing 3 bathrooms, a kitchen and more. We’ll handle all the details.

This kitchen is Regan era. Say goodbye.

Coffered Ceiling with Exposed Beams

Bryan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:52:39 +0000

Location: Los Altos Hills
Here’s one way to deal with exposed beams. Cofer the ceiling and wrap them.

Simple and elegant.

Sunnyvale Kitchen & Double Bath Remodel

Bryan — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:40:36 +0000

Here’s a short video of the before and after of a straightforward high value remodel. The homeowner’s love it as do we.

A Redwood Trellis to dwarf all others…

Bryan — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:03:21 +0000

Here’s a redwood trellis in Cupertino we recently finished. With 6″x6″ posts, 3″x6″ laterals, and 3″x4″ top member, it’s not timid… But it sure is beautiful. There are now three distinct “outdoor rooms,” each with it’s own character. We sourced some White Wysteria trees and expect them to be taking over this structure by next spring. We loved designing and building this one…

Driveway Gates… Straight forward and stout

Bryan — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:20:57 +0000

How about a driveway gate? This redwood gate isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Bolted and glued with 8″x 8″ posts sunk into more concrete that I care to discuss. Fully adjustable and ready for the openers and for decades of use. An easy, quick project that came out great! ( The little girl showing off her new gate will not be included if we build you one.)

Striking, really striking

Bryan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:11:07 +0000

Los Altos Hills

Rarely do we encounter a bathroom like this.

I thought you’d like to see it before we took it out.

Condo Renovation – Bank Owned w/plenty of mold

Bryan — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:58:44 +0000

A slide show movie of before and after…

Unique project with unique needs

Bryan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:36:59 +0000

We needed some resawn lumber the exterior of a building we were working on a while back. I found a snapshot today of the bandsaw used to rip the lumber and thought I’d share it. Pretty cool, huh.