Lukits Home Renovation

A 1982 Vancouver Special complete renovation. This was a complete gut and reconfiguration of the floor layouts maintaining the reverse house plan characteristic of Vancouver Specials. We legalized the secondary suite on the 1st floor and converted the title from a Single Family Home to a "Single Family Home with Secondary Suite". The layout of the 2nd floor and one third of the 1st floor was reconfigured to accommodate 3 or 4 bedrooms / 2 or 3 baths in the primary living area. The layout of the 1st floor was reconfigured to accommodate a secondary suite that can either be used as a 2 bedroom / 1 bath or a 3 bedroom / 2 bath. To protect the homeowners and the tenants from bothering one another, sound barrier insulation using a layer of sonopan, resilient bar and two layers of type x fire-rated drywall. While the ceiling was being done, we installed In-floor radiant floor heating throughout. In order to accommodate an additional bedroom in the suite, the entire mechanical system and hot water tank was removed and replaced with a new high-efficiency gas comb-boiler. As the power was not split between the main house and the suite, and the wiring was poor causing breakers to trip frequently in the house, we removed all of the electrical from the house, upgraded the power to the house was upgraded from 100amps to 200amps and added a subpanel for the suite and the main house so that each living space can control it's own power. In the same fashion, the water supply lines were undersized causing a constant struggle between fixtures in the house (i.e. flushed toilets caused cold showers), so all of the water pipes were removed and replaced with 3/4" lines to all showers and faucets to ensure no pressure loss across the four showers, eight sinks and four toilets in the house. As we had most of the drywall removed from the house, the interior walls were furred out to 2x6 depths to increase insulation from R-12 to R-20 with a new vapour barrier throughout. We also removed all of the popcorn ceiling throughout the home and while the ceilings to the attic were opened up, the owner had us install a 400 sqft storage platform in the attic. New aluminum high-performance casement, awning and sliding windows replaced old single pane sliding and awning windows throughout. On the front of the house, to make the deck more usable, a fixed picture window was replaced with a French door off of one of the bedrooms and a French door was installed off of the living to allow full access to the front deck. In the rear of the house, the cedar siding was in rough shape and so it was replaced with new matching shiplap cedar and stained to match. To accommodate the new open concept kitchen and dining area onto the rear deck, a floor to ceiling, wall to wall four-pane slider door was installed. To make this space an indoor / outdoor space to enjoy, a permanent gas line was run for an exterior BBQ. To accommodate the secondary suite fire access requirements, a new sidewalk was installed along the side and back of the house. The rear deck was almost completely replaced and new railing was installed to open up the view of the neighbourhood. Inside, the hardwood carbonized bamboo flooring was installed throughout the home. The walls between the kitchen and the dining room and the hallway to the bedrooms were removed in order to expand the bathrooms and the kitchen.