The clients wanted to remove an existing garage, add a family room, reconfigure the side entrance, add a 3-car garage and replace the driveway, all the while maintaining the original look of the house. The house, built in the Spanish hacienda style, was constructed in 1921. It is located at the start of the “Gold coast” in the beautiful Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland Recycled and reclaimed materials were to be used whenever possible.

No timetable was set for completion of this project to allow us to locate appropriate materials and dedicate the required time to allow for the superior required by the homeowners.

• The windows, picked up from a building demolition, were rehabbed to bring them up to present day standards.
• The leaded window above the French doors were salvaged from an antique shop and the size increased to fit, utilizing materials culled from other window panes.
• The skylight was fabricated on site from reclaimed windows.
• The copper conductor boxes were hand made in house.
• The roof tile was recycled from roof tear offs on other houses.
• All the stone utilized in the wall and patio was collected at various locations throughout greater Cleveland and hand set.
• The coping caps were removed from apartment buildings being demolished on the east side of Cleveland.
• The trim brick and brick sections in the driveway were recycled from the West 117th St. replacement project.

All of the products utilized in this project were chosen because they all fit in with the time period of this house. This project was truly a labor of love for all involved, from the homeowners, the suppliers and the dedicated craftsmen who put it all together.

The garage was constructed second. The flat roof style was chosen to match the existing attached garage structure that will be demolished. No structure existed in this location prior. The garage size is 24’deep x 30’ wide with an 8’ high rear wall and 10 ‘ high front wall. The low pitch flat roof is a .060” EPDM rubber membrane. Tongue and groove wood was used to cover the front soffit. A brick pathway was added, utilizing paving bricks re-claimed form a rebuild project, from the driveway to the main side door.

The family room addition (above) was constructed third. It replaced a 2 car attached garage that was structurally unsafe. It was very important to the homeowners that the exterior of the addition match the existing house as close as possible. This was achieved by salvaging the original brick form the demolished two-car garage. We then interspersed new brick with them to make up for the number required.