Gregor looks at a space he and his crew used to gain access to the home’s existing foundation and first floor frame, which required extensive reinforcing to get into compliance with California’s stringent seismic requirements. Fortunately, the existing framing had not suffered much deterioration, says Gregor — unlike many other similar structures in the area.
Architect and contractor Andrew James Gregor on the sidewalk in …
Architect and contractor Andrew James Gregor on the sidewalk in Berkeley, California, in front of his current remodeling project. The clients had the choice of building out into the back lot or building a new second story on the house. “We opted to build upwards,” says Gregor.
Tarps in place over the existing bungalow and its new second sto…
Tarps in place over the existing bungalow and its new second story, with framing in progress under the tarps. Gregor’s crew opened up the roof just as the weather began to turn rainy, and had to rush to protect the structure as a fierce Pacific storm was approaching with high winds and heavy rain. “For California, it was the ‘storm of the century,’” says Gregor. “A few lawn chairs blew over.”
A view of the back lot behind the bungalow, cluttered now becaus…
A view of the back lot behind the bungalow, cluttered now because of the construction. Gregor opted to preserve the outdoor living space behind the house. In California’s mild Mediterranean climate, fenced and landscaped outdoor spaces commonly serve as another room in the dwelling.
Gregor looks at a space he and his crew used to gain access to t…
Gregor looks at a space he and his crew used to gain access to the home’s existing foundation and first floor frame, which required extensive reinforcing to get into compliance with California’s stringent seismic requirements. Fortunately, the existing framing had not suffered much deterioration, says Gregor — unlike many other similar structures in the area.
A view of the crawlspace beneath the dwelling, showing a little …
A view of the crawlspace beneath the dwelling, showing a little of the new structure Gregor and his crew created. The project included two new strip footings about two feet deep and two feet wide running across the width of the house to support shearwalls, as well as 32-inch-deep piers for new posts that ran up through the first story to support the second floor beam system and the roof.
This is one of two shearwalls running across the width of the ho…
This is one of two shearwalls running across the width of the house. Gregor was able to achieve the strength he needed by doubling up the studs in the existing partition walls, and installing hold-downs connected to the new strip footings installed beneath the walls.
Gregor points out a hold-down at the top of the newly reinforced…
Gregor points out a hold-down at the top of the newly reinforced shearwall, which ties the wall to another shearwall above it, to maintain a continuous load path to manage seismic forces.
Gregor pulls back insulation in the outside wall to reveal anoth…
Gregor pulls back insulation in the outside wall to reveal another hold-down, part of the beefed-up structure for the long front-to-back exterior walls of the bungalow.
A look at the interface between the old first-floor ceiling of t…
A look at the interface between the old first-floor ceiling of the house (originally the home’s only ceiling) and the newly built second floor structure. The old ceiling’s frame and finish were left mostly intact during the remodel, allowing the homeowners, a young family, to stay in place during construction. Supported by an independent post and beam skeleton, the new second floor is structurally independent of the old ceiling, which remains held up by the home’s original walls as it always has been.
Shown here is the wood I-joist ceiling of the new second floor, …
Shown here is the wood I-joist ceiling of the new second floor, with a temporary pitched roof structure installed above it to hold the tarps that Gregor and his crew had to install on an emergency basis as a Pacific storm approached. The temporary 2x rafters and wood I-joist ridge at the top were removed when dry weather returned. The horizontal wood I-joists at the bottom of the frame remained as ceiling and roof structure. The ceiling I-joists were packed up with 2x10s ripped on a taper from 10 to about 3 inches (shown in the coming images), to create a low-slope roof deck which Gregor topped with a waterproof membrane.
A view of the newly framed second story walls, after the tempora…
A view of the newly framed second story walls, after the temporary tarp roof was removed. The yellow poly in the foreground shows where a walkable outdoor deck will be, accessible from the second floor living space, overlooking the back yard.
A view from below of the built-up ceiling and roof structure for…
A view from below of the built-up ceiling and roof structure for the second story addition. The wood I-joist ceiling structure, viewed earlier, remains in place, with 2x framing on top of it cut to create the slope of the low-pitched roof. The joists are tied into a central girder on top of a bearing wall, using steel joist hangers.
A view from above the roof of the roof and ceiling structure, sh…
A view from above the roof of the roof and ceiling structure, showing the wood I-joists and their ripped 2x build-up.
Carpenters framing the sloped build-up that creates the pitch fo…
Carpenters framing the sloped build-up that creates the pitch for the new low-slope roof.
Another look at the low-slope roof as the crew gets ready to app…
Another look at the low-slope roof as the crew gets ready to apply the roof deck sheathing.
Gregor and lead carpenter Margarito sheathe the new low-slope ro…
Gregor and lead carpenter Margarito sheathe the new low-slope roof.
A view of the addition from the rear after protective tarps are …
A view of the addition from the rear after protective tarps are removed.
The framed and sheathed roof and parapet, with a fillet applied …
The framed and sheathed roof and parapet, with a fillet applied to the roof/parapet joint (right) in preparation for roll roofing.
Asphalt roofing underlayment being applied to the roof deck.
Roofing contractor Martin Toledo installs the base layer of unde…
Roofing contractor Martin Toledo installs the base layer of underlayment (left), then proceeds to install a torch-down roofing membrane (right).
Applying the torch-down membrane.
The top weather surface of the three-ply membrane roof, with lig…
The top weather surface of the three-ply membrane roof, with light-colored reflective granules.
The roof membrane nears completion.
This December, JLC paid a visit to Andrew James Gregor, a trained architect and the owner of Blue Dog Construction and Renovation, based in Lafayette, California. Gregor is an expatriate Englishman, raised in the Middle East, who ran his own architecture office for 15 years in Germany, designing millions of square feet of commercial and residential projects.
When he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area almost ten years ago, Gregor decided not to practice architecture in the United States. Earning his license to practice here would have required him to serve years of apprenticeship under a U.S.-licensed architect — a step backwards for an experienced professional. Instead, Gregor stepped sideways, starting his own building and remodeling company. Now he’s keeping himself and a skilled crew busy with custom-built homes and remodels.
JLC caught up with Gregor on site in a Berkeley neighborhood known locally as “the 500’s” (because all the turn-of-the-century bungalows in the area were originally built with about 500 square feet of living space). Gregor’s task is to roughly double the living space of one of those little bungalows — while the family is living there.
“Their choice was whether to build out into the back, where they have about 800 square feet of yard (and chickens), or build upwards. So we opted to build upwards. There were a couple of houses here that have done that already, and it was no problem with the City of Berkeley. So we’re building two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.”
While the permit was no problem, the structure was an issue. For a project of this scope, Blue Dog has to upgrade the building to the existing seismic code. This meant extensive work on the foundation (accessible via a crawlspace barely a foot high), and the creation of effective shearwalls within the existing first floor framing. “We’ve put in shearwalls and hold-downs,” says Gregor. “And we re-did the entire foundation, basically.” To support the second floor structure and the new roof, “we put in a system of posts and beams,” says Gregor. “We didn’t have to remove the first floor walls, we just doubled up the studs in between.” Then the crew had to frame in a new second floor structure and second story walls, and finally frame a low-slope roof that would shed water while remaining below the allowable building height. “The whole structural system is tied together all the way down through the foundation,” says Gregor.
Because the family planned to stay put throughout the process, Gregor couldn’t demolish the existing ceiling. Instead, he blocked up the wall structure at the sides of the house and framed in a new top wall plate, then a new floor frame and deck, entombing the existing ceiling below the new second floor structure with its heavy engineered-beam skeleton. Then the crew started in on new second-story walls and got ready to frame a low-slope roof with parapets and scuppers.
But Mother Nature decided to add another plot twist. After the second-floor deck was started, a rare storm blew up in the Pacific Ocean and threatened to slam Northern California with high winds and torrential rains.
“While we were going through permitting and planning, we had six months of drought here,” says Gregor. “And then we started to build, and then it started to rain. And this family really needs the job to be finished, because they’re expecting a baby. So we were stuck in a situation where it was raining, but we had to take the roof off.”
“There wasn’t a choice about it,” says Gregor. “At some point you gotta take the plunge. It might stop raining in 2020, I don’t know. And so we took the roof off, and then it really started coming down.”
“When we heard about this storm coming,” says Gregor, “we bulked up the crew and got the outside walls framed. Then we made a temporary roof, and we had two giant tarps. And we threw blocks of wood with ropes all the way across the building, and we had 7 or 8 guys and we yanked the tarps, so the tarp just enveloped the whole house. We had to attach battens, because the tarp was ballooning up like an airship. I was imagining that the next thing was that the whole second floor would go flying over Berkeley with ropes hanging down.”
“There’s two tarps, one over the other,” says Gregor. “And it worked. I sat up all night watching the weather on TV and staring at my cell phone waiting for a text: ‘Andrew. We have a giant leak somewhere.’ But it didn’t come. Rain came down in buckets, but it stayed bone dry. “
In January, the crew removed the tarp system and framed in a permanent roof. Then roofers applied a double-coverage roll roof. Despite all the excitement, Gregor and his crew haven’t missed a beat. “We’ll be done in March,” he says.
