Past Projects Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Michael F. Simon Builders

Standout Staircases: Embracing Classic Details

This month’s featured project consists of a specific element from a larger remodel that we have recently completed. This project included an addition onto an older lake home that had many of the original finishes in place. One of these finishes was the original staircase that welcomes you as you enter the front door.

The staircases’ simplicity adds to its elegance and it is a characteristic that the homeowners fell in love with when buying the home. Their proposed addition included a new staircase in another part of the home. The homeowners wanted to know if it was possible to closely match the look and style of the original staircase when building the new one.

Matching the Original Staircase

The golden rule when remodeling is the new parts should look like it could have always been there.

How is this done? Fortunately, Michael F. Simon Builders is one of the most experienced home remodelers in the area. We can guide you through this process and build a home addition that blends seamlessly with your current home.

The process starts with a conversation with the homeowner:

Are you looking for an exact match?
Do you like the distressed look of the original?
Is there anything that you don’t like about the staircase?

In this case, the important things from the homewonwer’s perspective were matching the proportions, the type of wood, and the color. They wanted the new staircase to be nice and crisp, look new, but still match characteristics of the original. We achieved just that!

Upon inspection of the original staircase, we concluded the railings and newel post were constructed of Cherry, the treads were White Oak, and the skirt boards were paint grade Poplar.

After identifying the materials, two challenges presented themselves.

There were no commercial available posts that were an exact match to the original posts.
Finding an exact stain match for the Cherry could prove difficult as Cherry naturally darkens with age.

The first issue is a common issue we enjoy tackling as our carpenters are skilled at fabricating custom parts when commercial parts are not available. A custom newel post was constructed, custom rails, caps, and balusters were milled, and new treads were carefully fit and installed. Each of the details of the original staircase were carefully measured and replicated.

The second issue involved one of our trusted trade partners to help us find the correct solution. Since Cherry naturally darkens over time, if we selected an exact stain match to the original Cherry parts and applied it to the new, the new staircase would look good for a while until it begins to darken itself. Our painter recommended to jump start that process with a few products before putting the final color to it. This way the staircase not only looks good now, but will match and look great for years to come!

After completion, our homeowners were very pleased with the final outcome!

Considering a home renovation? Simon Builders can help!

First, for any large renovation give us a call!

Next, whether you have a new property to fix up or want a big change in your current home, we are here to help! When thinking of a large-scale remodel you want to be sure your new space is cohesive and will be a space you will enjoy for years to come. The Michael F. Simon team has seen a great variety in style and design – and we love them all! We are happy to help you find the right look for your home. Every remodel starts with a conversation about what you need in your home and what you want in your home before we begin the pricing and design for your project.

The Truth is in the Details: The Difference a Quality Carpenter Can Make

A good painter can make many carpenters look much better than they actually are. At the end of the day, the truth is in the details. It will become evident down the road when the paint or caulk fails. The truth is, there are hundreds, if not, thousands of these unseen details in every home that is built by any builder. The difference between something good and something great is the attention to detail.

One of these details is the common miter joint. There are typically dozens of miters in every home. You can have miters in your door and window casing, miters in your flooring, miters in your baseboard, and so forth. Miters are used because they allow us to wrap profiled trims around a corner providing a continual flow around the edge, and they hide unpleasant end grain. They are quick and pleasing to the eye when done correctly. It’s a fundamental skill for most finish carpenters and one that most can be easily judged. When done incorrectly, it can quickly and negatively affect the final appearance of the home.

When it comes to the miter, the difference between and good miter and a great miter goes way beyond the appearance. Many times, the interior trim is milled from different species of wood. A characteristic of all wood is that it expands and contracts with shifts in temperature and humidity. That shifting means your wood trim moves throughout its life. Shifting can crack, and open miters creating a challenge when attempting to make a trim install look great for years to come.

A good carpenter will be able to cut a perfect miter that, when installed, will be nice, tight, and perfectly flush. The detail will be easy to see immediately, but how will that miter perform throughout the years? Will it look as good in one year as it does today? In five years? In 20 years? A great carpenter will take the extra steps to reinforce that miter to give it a much better chance of staying together and looking nice over its life. Knowing they have hundreds of miters to execute to perfection in a single house, a phenomenal carpenter will find a system that reinforces these miters in a quality and efficient manner that keeps the labor costs down for the homeowner.

There are multiple ways to reinforce the miter joint, and truthfully, many of them are great and will perform well. One way that we have found to do it balances quality and efficiency. Our system is comprised of three components; a perfectly cut miter, polyurethane hot melt glue, and clamping pressure

Polyuretheane Hot Melt Glue

The star of this joint is the glue. Polyurethane hot melt glue is a hot glue stick on steroids. It is melted in a heat gun and applied to the miter. When clamping pressure is applied, the glue dries instantly and provides an instant bond. The clamps can be removed, and the casing can be transported without breaking.

Miter Clamp

Now, clamping a miter can prove to be a difficult task as you need to apply pressure at a 45-degree angle. We use specially designed miter clamps that apply diagonal pressure for the few seconds it takes for the glue to set.

The benefit of this polyurethane glue is the high bond strength to the end grain that exists within a miter joint. Many other adhesives absorb into the wood and fail to make an exceptional bond. Secondly, the glue has a flexible trait to it. With the flexibility and high bond strength, the glue can handle the movement of the miter and still keep its hold. It drastically improves the chances of the miter to stay together for a long time keeping its exceptional original look.

The next time you look at a door or window casing, you can inspect the miters. Are they still looking good? If they are, you can wonder what unseen detail the carpenter went above and beyond on to ensure that miter is still looking good to this day.

Want to learn more? Get in touch!

If you are interested in this and other unseen details, and a builder that loves making sure all they are completed to perfection for your next project, please contact Simon Builders today.

Refreshing a Dated Kitchen

Last month, we talked about how some remodeling projects can be more involved than simply updating the fixtures and finishes. This month, we are excited to show you an example of a ReFresh project. This is when we remodel a space by updating the finishes and keep everything in the same location, rather than knocking down walls and relocating things.

First, a little sidetrack: This ReFresh project was to update the kitchen for one of our past clients who we helped back in 2015 when we remodeled their bathroom. That project ended up winning first place in the Residential Bath $50,001 to $75,000 category of the National Association of The Remodeling Industry’s (NARI) Contractor of the Year (COTY) competition.

Back to the project at hand! In this ReFresh project, we replaced the existing cabinets, countertops, appliances, and lighting fixtures with new materials. We also added brick to the load-bearing wall that matched the fireplace in the adjacent living room to help tie the rooms together. The dark and dated wood paneling above that area, as well as the wood paneling in the pantry was removed to help brighten up those areas.

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While this project involved more cosmetic changes, the final result is a beautifully updated space the homeowners will love for years to come.

Your Builders for Life

Did you know that, on average, between one-third and one-half of the remodeling projects we do each year are for past clients? We love that and tell all of our clients that we want to be their builder (or remodeler) for life.

Regardless of the size, we want to help them out! If you have a remodeling project in mind, our remodeling experts would love to talk to you about it.

Knocking Out Walls to Combine Spaces

When we remodel a space by simply updating the finishes keeping everything in the same location, we call it a ReFresh rather than a remodel. This isn’t one of those projects! Yes, we ReFreshed the kitchen with new finishes, but we took this project a few extra steps as well.

While it is common for older homes to have a lot of smaller rooms that are separate from each other, the trend has been to knock down those dividing walls to open up the spaces so they all flow together. In this project, our homeowners asked us to do just that. The large wall that separated the great room from the kitchen was removed as well as a smaller section of the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.

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The homeowners also wanted to better use their existing kitchen to allow more than one person to work in the kitchen at a time, which their existing layout didn’t easily allow. We did this by changing the layout from a peninsula, to an island.

Not only does removing the dividing walls help to open up the spaces so that they flow together, but it also makes the home appear larger as you can see further into the home. The change in the layout and the added prep sink in the new island now allows more than one person to easily work in the kitchen and not bump into each other like before.

Considering a remodel? Simon Builders can help!

Whether you have a new property to fix up or want a big change in your current home, we are here to help! When thinking of a large-scale remodel you want to be sure your new space is cohesive and will be a space you will enjoy for years to come.

The Michael F. Simon team has seen a great variety in style and design – and we love them all! We are happy to help you find the right look for your home. Every remodel starts with a conversation about what you need in your home and what you want in your home, before we being the pricing and design for your project. We want to be sure we are getting you everything exactly the way you want it and to try to account for surprises!

Big Impact in a Small Space

While Simon Builders may be best known for building some of the area’s nicest new homes, we also do quite a bit of remodeling each year. Our remodeling projects range anywhere from a small project, like this one, all the way up to remodeling entire homes well over the million-dollar price point and everywhere in-between.

These homeowners had lived in the home for 13 years and wanted to add an entertainment area to their lower level. They had a closet under the existing staircase that wasn’t being used and wanted to explore repurposing that unused area.

We are excited to share this particular project as this month’s featured project as we were able to help these homeowners make a big impact in a small space. We helped them take a small, rarely-used closet and turn it into a much more functional wet bar area.

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While this project may be on the small size, it packs a big punch both aesthetically and functionality.

Condo Basement Upgrade

Basement Updates Designed for Entertaining

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This month’s featured project showcases a project where multiple areas in a condo were remodeled. The focus was refreshing the lower level bar. Our homeowners contacted us to help them take their bar area, where they entertain, to the next level. They typically host a few parties each year that involve catered food, hired bartenders, and servers to take care of the event while they socialize and entertain their guests.

Their existing bar needed an overhaul to take the space from the builder grade look it had, to an upscale luxury finish. The finished area created a genuinely welcoming atmosphere fit for the best of parties. Check it out for yourself!

Considering a renovation? Simon Builders can help!

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin thinking about the redesign process.

What is my budget? Can I achieve the design I want? What are my goals for this redesign? Who do I call for help?

The last question is easy enough- our design and sales team will help you find the right look and quality products to transform your home. We have the years of experience to guide you through the process from start to finish! Contact us today to get started.

Screen Porch Addition

This month’s featured project showcases one of our screen porches. Our homeowners have a house that they love and it had a deck that was underutilized because of harsh southern exposure sunlight and bugs in the summer. They knew they wanted to enjoy more time outdoors relaxing and really wanted to treat their outdoor space as an extension of their living space. This house has a spectacular golf course and countryside views that were one of the reasons they were drawn to the home 10 years ago. They decided they had waited long enough and were ready to make an investment in their exterior living space.

Our homeowners had the following three requests:

Update their deck finishes from the joists up, leaving the underdeck area unfinished.
Create a space that would protect their south facing deck from the intense sun, as well and create an insect-free zone.
With their home located on one of the fairways of the local golf course, it was important that whatever structure was created, that it minimized any obstructions from their picturesque views.

To accomplish these requests, our plan was to create a two-zone deck that includes a protected screen porch off of the dining room that fits over the existing deck footprint. We also were going to update the deck off their master bedroom providing an area to grill and have full sun exposure if desired. To do this, we investigated and determined the existing deck framing could remain while adding two new support posts. The new screen porch would seamlessly tie into the dining room gable wall by extending the gable roof over the deck — finally, modern finishes throughout, including a low maintenance composite decking, aluminum railing, and trim. The interior would have a rustic feel with stained tongue and groove cedar installed on the gable wall and ceiling.

In addition to this plan that was assembled, we had an additional goal that we make every effort to meet on each of our remodels. No matter what type of addition or remodel we complete, it’s a large goal of ours to make sure the work looks like it could have always been there. We go to great lengths when we match materials and textures, consider many different layouts and designs to figure out which design fits best, as well as continuously searching for new materials or methods that might better suit the homeowner’s desires.

In an attempt to accomplish this goal, it made the most sense to create the new screened-in portion of the deck off the dining room. Nice, clean lines could be achieved by extending the existing gable roof, ridgeline, and pitch, as well as soffit and fascia. The soffit gable boxes were included to match the boxes on the existing house.

The smallest of details make or break a project. We have multiple different mediums that were chosen to finish this project. Through our years of experience in building these porches, we have found materials that work well together when it comes to the finished texture. This house has added raw cedar siding inside the porch as well as the mentioned MiraTec trim, Azek decking, and RealPost structural posts. Sometimes different real and faux wood grains can clash and make the products look unnatural. We have found that RealPost and MiraTec have available grain patterns that mesh well together, and the Azek decking grain pairs well with raw cedar. Both of these pairs are strategically used together on this porch.

No matter how good your design is or how superior the material you pick is, it won’t matter if you don’t have the attention to detail and craftsmanship it takes to ensure that your project is built to last. Skipping many of these detail affects the final outcome, or worse, takes years off the life span of your investment. Take a look at many of the fine details that went into the completion of this project.

Our Steps

Sturdy construction meets aesthetically pleasing finish. Mechanical fasteners are an essential part of having a strong and durable project. Many times they can be unsightly and ultimately negatively affect the final look of the project. With some careful forethought and some ingenuity, many times, you can conceal these much-needed fasteners. Shown here, many of the fasteners that are tying the roof to the posts to the deck are all hidden within the structural members of the deck. This provides absolutely no visible screws or fasteners once the beam wrap is applied.

Much of the material we used is a composite. These materials are designed to last much longer and stay much straighter that natural materials, such as wood. There is a small catch, though that many builders skip or overlook. They will work how they are designed when you take the required following steps after you make a cut into the material. Many times, it is required to paint any cut ends to reseal the raw edges. After each and every cut we make, we make sure to paint any of the raw ends of the material when as it’s required.

The main purpose of a screen porch is to keep the bugs out. We go above and beyond to make sure we lay a layer of the screen over the deck joists before we lay the decking down to ensure that bugs can’t come up between the deck boards. A floor sweep is added to the bottom of our screen doors to seal off the gap as well.

One of the first things some people may pick up on a project is a crooked line. Unfortunately for screen porches, there are many, many parallel lines in close proximity with each other. You have your deck boards, you have your railing balusters, and many times you have a siding or wall treatment. We take great care to make sure that these lines and gaps are perfectly straight and even run true through openings. Extra care was also taken to scribe the deck boards around the posts to ensure a consistent gap.

Continual deck spacing through the door

One step that happens long before the railing is installed, blocking was installed for each post of the railing so that they could be installed perfectly centered as well as correctly follow the inside line of the picture framed deck boards. Failure to do so will either through your layout off, or you won’t have anything secure to install your railings to.

Finally, something that sets our screen porches apart from many others is the use of wide expanse screening systems. The largest benefit to this is the screen is able to stretch from corner post to corner post and from deck to ceiling providing an unobstructed view of the land that you already fell in love with.

Considering a renovation? Simon Builders can help!

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin thinking about the redesign process.

What is my budget? Can I achieve the design I want? What are my goals for this redesign? Who do I call for help?

Whole Home Remodel

This beautiful home with a breathtaking view overlooking the Madison skyline was once a showstopper that anyone would desire. Over the years its spectacular style became tired. A new set of owners cast a brand new vision which would bring this house back to its former glory! Michael F. Simon Builders was enlisted to make this vision a reality. The plan to accomplish this transformation consisted of renovating the entire home, inside and out, to create cohesiveness to both the function and feel of the home for the new owners.

New windows bring in fresh daylight to highlight the new fireplace, built-in cabinets, and wine bar. Simply an inviting place to kick back and relax!

We creatively rearranged room locations to provide a kitchen with twice the functional space, stunning finishes, and a central location for all to gather and enjoy quality time.

New vaulted Tongue and Groove ceiling, accented by a custom wood beam and spectacular fireplace, bring this formal living room together and provide a special place to enjoy a conversation.

By shifting walls and relocating room locations, an open floor plan was created that allows the house to have a much more comfortable flow and suited the spacial uses that the homeowners desired. These changes allowed for a blank canvass for high-end modern finishes that Michael F. Simon Builders is known for. In the end, each room was carefully thought out and designed to have a good balance of utility, relaxation, and entertaining space.

Once open to the master bedroom, this new master bath is a real eye-catcher that is now separated from the bedroom providing for a quieter private space.

Considering a Lake Home Renovation? Where to start?

First, for any large renovation give us a call!

Featured Project: Basement Remodel

September’s featured project is a much-needed basement remodel for a growing family. After living in their home for about five years, our homeowners realized that they would like a little extra space for their future family. The easiest way to add more space was to transform a dark, cold unfinished lower-level into a comfortable, warm room their family can utilize and enjoy for years to come.

Our homeowners had a remarkable blank canvas. Their goal was to add a spacious family room with a dry bar and plenty of space for kids to play and add an easily accessible bathroom. Their unfinished portion of their basement was a great candidate for these additions.

A normal fear with many when doing a basement remodel is that a lot of money will be invested into a final product that will still be damp, dark, and cold. Not all basements are a great candidate for a finished living space right off the bat. The great news is Michael F. Simon Builders is an expert when it comes to dry comfortable lower levels. We know that the key to having a dry lower levels starts way before you even think about paint and trim. We fully understand that it is an entire system that consists of drainage, waterproofing, airflow, insulation, and have a vast knowledge on how all of these systems work not only individually, but together as one complete system.

For this project, we determined the house’s waterproofing and drainage were in tip-top shape so we could begin at insulation. Our homeowner chose a hybrid insulation package which uses the best of both the spray foam and batt insulation worlds. The spray foam air seals and creates a moisture barrier on all exterior walls and surfaces while the cost-effective batt insulation efficiently fills the rest of the cavity to ensure a controllable space. In addition, the batt insulation helps to control sound between the different levels of the home, which will help provide for quiet areas.

One easily missed and inefficient area in many homes is the box sill where your floor framing meets the foundation. This is impossible to get a great air seal with batt insulation. Spray foam easily gets around all of the protrusions and fills all the nooks and crannies ensuring no air penetration as well as temperature efficiency. Our insulation trade partner does a fantastic job of keeping things neat.

Speaking of keeping things neat and tidy, worksite cleanliness is something we take very seriously as it’s not only safe, but it is important to make the least amount of disruptions with our homeowners during any project. We certainly make dust (contained, of course) during the day, but we pride ourselves with clean job sites at the end of the day that anybody could safely walkthrough.

This remodel included adding a lower level bathroom that would be easily accessible and wouldn’t force you to go to another level. Michael F. Simon Builders excels in problem-solving issues like trying to add a bathroom in a lower level that wasn’t originally “roughed in” for one. New drains needed to be added for a toilet, sink, and shower. Channels were cut into the concrete to provide access to add the needed plumbing. That was a simple task for our trusted Plumber and Concrete Trade Partners.

With all of the framing complete and trade partners finished we could roll onto everybody’s favorite part of the construction, the finishes. Our homeowner had a specific vision of making the lower level tie into the rest of the home with light and airy finishes that look spectacular.

The main feature that carries throughout the lower level is the stunning beadboard wainscoting and paneling. This element allowed us to cleverly dress up areas that are difficult to look nice, such as the foundation wall. This basement had a half foundation wall that was thicker than the stud framing. The wainscot and sill pleasantly dressed this up and seamlessly ties into the fireplace mantle.

The paneling also allowed for incorporating a clever hidden storage solution. We were able to utilize the dead space below the stair well and add a little bit of much appreciated storage. Using specialized hardware, a hidden door was added to the stair paneling.

The bathroom was kept very simple and clean with a stylish vanity, beautiful tile tub surround, and patterned tile floor.

The fireplace was the main showstopper that was incorporated into the project. A gas fireplace was included with a full brick surround and paneled mantle. Being fully custom, we were able to tie all the surrounding elements seamlessly into it creating a truly inviting feature into the space.

A custom built-in cabinet and bookshelf not only provides a place to store books and Blu-rays, but an electronics smurf tube was provided from the tv hook up above the mantle, down through the wall, and into the cabinet so that all cords can be concealed and the electronics can be stored and kept safely out of site from flying balls and toys!

Considering a Renovation? Simon Builders can help!

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin thinking about the redesign process.

What is my budget? Can I achieve the design I want? What are my goals for this redesign? Who do I call for help?

Featured Project: From Greenhouse to Guest House

Our featured project this month is for homeowners that had a greenhouse on the front of their home when they bought the house two years earlier. The former owners had added it, but in a very short time our clients learned that the space was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. After living in the space they decided they wanted to change this greenhouse into a finished room that could be enjoyed year-round in comfort. The current homeowners thought that this space could be better utilized as a Den that could also be used as a Guest Bedroom by adding a Private Bathroom.

Adding Curb Appeal

The new space was limited to the size of the existing foundation under the greenhouse. The new area would be the same overall size but would function completely different than the current space.

On the exterior, our goal is always to make any new addition look and feel like it was always part of the original home. To add some extra curb appeal, we added stone to the bottom of the new room to give it a dramatic look as you walk up to the home. The rest of the materials and colors match the existing home making it hard to tell which part is new and which was original unless you look at it side by side.

The new space has a lot of high end products like an infloor heating system under the tiled floor in the bathroom on a programmable thermostat, LED can lights and soft-closing doors and drawers.

Innovative Problem-Solving

If you are a fan of the HGTV remodeling shows, you know that they always run into unexpected issues on every project. We find that we seldom run into unexpected issues or that we’re able to catch and avoid most them ahead of time when we do our on-site Open House before we do any pricing on our projects. This project was the exception to our rule. We did run into a couple of unexpected issues:

The first issue was discovered after we opened up the floor where the new bathroom was planned. We had planned on leaving the existing wood flooring in the Den, but found out that there wasn’t actually any support under the floor and the 2×4 boards under it were resting on dirt. To fix this, the flooring was removed, the area was excavated, proper support was installed, insulation and air sealing was added, and then a new wood floor was installed.

The second issue was after a tremendous rain storm, which caused a river (we are not exaggerating here) on the side of this home, down to the lake in the backyard. While we had the foundation partially opened up to install our masonry on the front of the home, we went ahead and waterproofed the foundation under our soon-to-be rooms with a drainage plane for water to travel away from the building. Besides those two unexpected issues, this project ran smoothly and we were able to help the homeowners change their home to better fit their lifestyle.

Considering a home renovation? Simon Builders can help!

A home redesign isn’t something that you jump right into blind. You are going to want to do some research before you begin planning out your home redesign. Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin thinking about the redesign process.

What is my budget? Can I achieve the design I want? What are my goals for this redesign? Who do I call for help?