2008 Residential Addition

My clients had a small galley kitchen with an attached family room. They initially contacted me about expanding the kitchen into the existing family room. In order to do this, a new family room would have to be constructed. There was a deck and hot tub off of the existing kitchen. The deck was original to the 1980s house. My clients spend much time outdoors in the yard and on their deck. Their current deck and hot tub were in very bad shape. They asked me to construct a new family room with an attached deck and hot tub. They are close to retirement so they requested low maintenance exterior products where possible. My clients wanted their new room to draw in the outdoor light. It was also important that their new room not look like a patio enclosure. They wanted an elegant looking room with a fireplace and wood ceiling.

To meet their goals we tore off the existing deck and hot tub and built a new 17 X 19 foot family room with French doors, transom, and casement windows. The room features a beadboard ceiling and a gas fireplace. We added a new 25 X 16 foot composite deck with vinyl rails and a new hot tub.

More About The Project

Finished Room

The new room features Anderson casement windows and French wood doors. My clients could have saved a great deal of money by choosing sliding glass doors, but they did not want a room that looked like a patio enclosure.

Additional View of New Room

After

The finished ceiling featuring 3/8 by 3 1/8 poplar beadboard. NOTE: There are no splices in the ceiling. We special ordered 20 foot poplar trim boards to case the ridge beam. There are no miters in the trim to detract from the ceiling.

Before

This photo shows ridge beam in ceiling. We installed 1/2 inch CDX plywood over drywall so we could install the beadboard vertically.

After

My clients did not want a lot of lights in the ceiling. Here we installed the only two can lights to illuminate artwork on the finished mantle wall.

We further addressed the lighting needs in the room by splitting the wall outlets. One half of the outlets are switched for floor lamps while the other half of the outlets are always live. We also installed light kits on the ceiling fans for general task lighting.

Before

This photo shows mantle wall, can lights, and plywood ceiling.

After

My clients asked me to install a direct vent fireplace. They did not want a kit mantle. They had read an article in the Plain Dealer about antique shops that salvage old mantles and lumber. They traveled over to Lorain road to search the antique shops and found this mantel in the top photo.

This photo shows the repaired and finished mantel. It was a challenge to make this mantel meet the clearance required by the manufacturer, but with some engineering we were able to do so. The old mantel adds much character to the room.

After

This photo shows a Minka Air ceiling fan. My clients picked this fan because the trim matched the trim on the mantel.

After

This photo shows our custom milled wide plank oak floor. Floor boards are 8 1/4, 6 1/4 and 4 1/4 inches wide. For a special touch we used wood floor registers.

After

This photo shows the finished addition and deck.

Before

This photo shows before shot of back of the house.

After

This photo shows the new Hot Springs hot tub. The deck features Timber Teck composite decking, premium rosewood color with hidden fasteners.

Before

This photo shows the original entry way from the old deck into the kitchen/family room.

After

This photo shows the vinyl railing by Fairways. We selected this because of our low maintenance needs and its high quality. All interior posts have solar light caps to provide additional accent lighting.

Before

This photo shows the original hot-tub and deck during demolition work.

After

This photo shows West and North side of the addition. This picture shows a 25 year old lilac shrub that was preserved per my clients special request. An identical shrub was transplanted

After

This photo shows the new French doors leading into the family room. The addition was sided with double 4 inch vinyl siding. We used composite lattice around the deck again for low maintenance.

During

This photo shows the back of the house after the deck had been removed. We had to relocate the underground electrical service and repair the septic line at the left corner.

During

My clients take great pride in their yard. They asked us to protect the yard area. This was difficult because the work area was very far from the street. We brought in about 45 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood to protect the turf. This added to the cost of the job, but it kept the lawn in good condition.

After

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After

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After

To whom it may concern:

Contractor Robert Schwarz was hired to add a new addition to our home, a sunroom/family room.

During each phase of the construction process the work was done by the most competent and skillful of people who not only worked with the utmost of pride in the job to be done, but also with great integrity.

We cannot express how pleased we are with the quality and beauty of our new room. We look forward to spending many days in sunshine and evenings around the fireplace.

We would do it all over again because of the relationships that were built and the pride of workmanship that all involved displayed.

Kathy and Ed Curits