The Dutch Deck Home Renovation

Sometimes we are hired for a project because of poor quality work done by another contractor.  This was the case with the Dutch Deck house in the Wolf Laurel Community of Mars Hill, NC.  A previous 20×20 foot addition had been complete only ten years prior, but it was built using an improper foundation.  That is why when we arrived, the addition was separating from the main house of the home and the owners were in serious need of a trustworthy contractor to fix the problem!

The slope of the yard is very steep.  This not only made our demo difficult, but was also likely the reason why the old foundation had been done the way it was– rather than the right way to prevent failure. Working in conjunction with a geotechnical engineer, who used a Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP), we built a continuous 70 foot long footer to support a new addition on this vacation home.   The DCP is used to test the compressive strength of the soil.  Every foot we dug down, we used the DCP to measure the soil. If it wasn’t solid enough, we dug deeper.  Being in a mountain climate, it is important to have a proper foundation dug to the right depth.  The heave of frost and snow will upend anything not installed properly, which in this case only took 10 years to do.

The new addition, which had been constructed by Mountain Remodeling of WNC, included a 24×24 double garage.  Over the garage, a master bedroom suite was added as was a three season screened porch.   A new stone fireplace was built as part of the addition and is the focal point of a new family room.  We installed beautiful hardwood, 4 inch white oak floors.  We were able to reuse much of the existing siding and to blend the old in with the new for a seamless integration.  A new metal roof capped the addition and the rest of the home. We upgraded the HVAC and added new duct work and installed new windows and exterior doors.

The architect on this project was ACM Design Architecture & Interiors out of Asheville, NC.