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Posts Tagged ‘McBride Construction’

This was a very typical job here in Berkeley. So many older houses have strange, bad additions at the back of the house. Perhaps when they were built people still had garbage dumps in their backyards and had no interest in connecting their living space to the yard. These guys had a badly built 1950s era closet tacked on to the back of their kitchen that contained the laundry and a bunch of other stuff. We moved the laundry and all the storage to the middle of the house and moved the kitchen to the back, adding a dining nook and a half bath and a very small extension to the back bedroom.

This is a view from the dining room towards the laundry and kitchen. A skylight over a piece of art beckons you to walk that way.
new half bath with utility sink, reuse of the old chicago kitchen sink faucet
The owner built this nice shelving out of salvaged fir and we extended the window sill into a little shelf over the tile.
Copper induction range with a built-in battery. (Berkeley company.)

SANCO₂ heat pump hot water heater (tank inside, heatpump outside) that doubles as house heating system (Harvest System)

The owner is still finishing up details like the nook and the pantry so I will hopefully have one more update on this project.

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I have been spending some time enjoying the Pilates and Rehab studio that McBride Construction and I finished last year. At long last PGE hooked up the electricity and the mostly native plants that I helped select and install in front are growing in fast and the studio is shaping up nicely. Calscape has a tool where you can enter your address and it will give you a list of plants they consider native to that spot. This guided some of our choices.

The project involved remodeling the existing floor of the single family house into two residential units – a two bedroom in front and a one bedroom ADU in back, and adding a brand new accessible Commercial space below. (It was a dirt crawlspace)

In the afternoon sunlight streams into the entry making its way deep into the studio
The main studio – radiant heat in the floor and a way beyond code heat recovery ventilation system that keeps the air really clean during flu season and wildfire season.

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This was a remodel and tune-up of an existing music studio and adjacent decks and stairs

Bent copper rooflet and extra large craftsman sconce
The builder (for scale)
pathway lighting
Stone steps to lower deck (In process)

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John has been getting ready for the strawbales over the holidays. He bought a bale knife on EBay and made his own needles out of a steel rod. Pretty cool.

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www.instagram.com/p/B2PCXyDAJ5y/

Photos by the maker, John McBride

 

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ADU Design Meeting

Saturday Morning Design Meeting

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McBride Construction (and others…foundation by Caliber Structural and rough plumbing by Braco Plumbing) have this 484 SF ADU well on its way . It’s nice to see it take form. You can’t see one green innovation that is hidden under the slab. Instead of rigid foam insulation we used rigid rockwool. Concrete is high volume flyash. The framing lumber is FSC certified. The building will get a blower door test and it must meet a high standard for air tightness. (You can still open the window or turn on the ERV for fresh air, but your air won’t be trickling in through dusty cracks and crevices) Stay tuned for more. .

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McBride Construction

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I had the privilege of assisting with the hoisting to second floor and installation of this nice big south facing window on Friday.

Big window

John and Oscar leveling

 

 

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This one involves a small addition and reworking the back of the house to better connect with the backyard nature and southern sunlight

Berkeley Remodel/Addition

and this one gets a new master suite on top and a reworking of the entire house. The south-facing back of the house also gets a lot more window and door to connect to the yard and sunlight.

San Mateo Addition and Remodel

Stay tuned for more exciting developments.

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Photos and work courtesy of McBride Construction

sheetrock 1 sheetrock 2 sheetrock 3 sheetrock 4

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