Build Stratford Blog

Build Autumn 15 Newsletter

11/24/2015

Autumn may seem like it has come and gone, but the snow will disappear in a few days and it can be autumn-ish once again! To celebrate, here is Build's Autumn 2015 Newsletter with pretty pictures of a small yet functional kitchen renovation and a charming addition to an Ontario Cottage.

Catherine Cassidy is a Designer with Build, a construction firm in Stratford, Ontario, specializing in new custom homes and renovations.

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Traditional Porch Refurbished, Mornington St. Stratford

11/17/2015

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Build restored an elaborate Victorian porch to its former glory replicating its original details with new materials. This heritage Italiante home, built in 1877, had a beautifully ornate porch which was deteriorating in places with rot, and a number of older repairs were poorly detailed and executed.

BEFORE

AFTER

We repaired and reinforced the foundations of the porch, salvaging some original hewn beams to repurpose into interior cabinets and furniture within the home. The porch flooring was replaced with painted Accoya that we milled in a narrow profile with small spaces between the boards to facilitate drainage. New flagstone replaced the crumbling original. The curved lower railings were designed and fabricated to better shed water, and we replicated mouldings and panels where necessary.

A combination of new and moisture resistant materials, such as turned pvc cylinders at the bottom of the heavy rope wood mouldings next to the vestibule door, will help this porch maintain its architectural integrity and stand the test of time.

The completed restoration in all of its glory.

Catherine Cassidy is a Designer with Build in Stratford, Ontario.
Rory McDonnell is a General Contractor, Licensed Carpenter and Architectural Designer with Build, a construction firm in Stratford, Ontario, specializing in new custom homes and renovations.

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We Love Your House - a fabulous Ontario farmhouse

11/16/2015

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I would drive by this wonderful house on my way to another project in Ayr, Ontario, and had to stop and snap a picture of it. Undoubtedly there is a story behind it.

The window detailing above the porch roof is unique, and that porch is fantastic. I also admire what appears to be the original metal roof, long past the point of its expected lifespan I am sure, but still sheltering one of the more interesting houses in our area.

Rory McDonnell is a General Contractor, Licensed Carpenter and Architectural Designer with Build, a construction firm in Stratford, Ontario, specializing in new custom homes and renovations.

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Proportion in traditional construction

11/4/2015

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One of the lamentations of our loss of respect for proper design and execution is we wind up building construction that seem "ok" but our brain tells us something is amiss. This is unfortunate as previous generations of craftsmen, builders, architects and thinkers figured all this stuff out for us, and for the most part we are just slipping into laziness and / or a sense of "good enough".

A prime example is this dormer. In the quest for extra usable space, a misproportioned cube topped with a triangle has been plunked onto this old house. It has been swathed in vinyl siding that matches nothing on the existing structure, and the proportions of the windows are simply bizarre - lots of room for a more vertical window like those of the house. A well designed and detailed shed dormer would look so much better - like the image below:

While on the subject of window shape, here is a fine example of not getting it right, and then not getting it right again! The lower double hung windows are too narrow and too close together - two wider windows would look appropriate (interesting the house next to the outbuilding suffers the same malady). And the upper window is far too wide for a double window of that height - and the windows on the back of the second story suffer as well. There is a shape known as a "golden rectangle" and its part of "design 101".

Rory McDonnell is a General Contractor, Licensed Carpenter and Architectural Designer with Build, a construction firm in Stratford, Ontario, specializing in new custom homes and renovations.

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Rory McDonnell

I am a licensed carpenter,
an experienced general contractor, and a qualified architectural designer. My expertise is in building, restoring, and renovating new custom homes and heritage homes with respect for their inherent details.

I want to share with you my impressions of the good, the bad and the ugly in the construction and renovation industry.

Build Autumn 15 Newsletter

Traditional Porch Refurbished, Mornington St. Stratford

We Love Your House - a fabulous Ontario farmhouse

Proportion in traditional construction

Rory McDonnell

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