This job came to us through a response on Craigslist, and it was fixing a critical problem: a window in a bathtub surround that had become a waterproofing hazard. It’s also a small world. The owner knew a general contractor I’d worked with years ago, but neither of us realized we knew the same person
Bernal Heights Shower Window Jamb Repair, June 2024 Read More »
This kitchen floor in a Menlo Park condo was a straightforward job. We laid one-by-two-foot tiles in a running-bond (subway) pattern, running along the long axis of the kitchen. The backer was already installed when we arrived, so we went straight to layout and setting. The tile is in a “Delorean Gray,” a color that’s
This owner was converting a garage structure in Oakland into an office. The conversion involved adding windows and doing some demolition on the west-facing wall, and that left the concrete exterior of the wall patched, uneven, and scarred where the new openings had gone in. The fix was to resurface it: apply a new outer
This concrete wall repair in Orinda was trickier than it looked. From the outside, it seemed like a simple patch. Once we started, it took a fair amount of demolition to get to sound material, and more time than we’d planned. That’s common with concrete repair. Damaged concrete is often worse below the surface than
This kitchen was in a duplex off Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. A general contractor found us through our Craigslist ad and brought us in for the cabinets. The project was on a very restricted budget, and it was a straightforward, one-day job. The cabinets were sourced locally, and the work included the plywood underlayment for
We’ve installed so many hexagonal mosaic floors that they’re pretty straightforward for us. But straightforward doesn’t mean easy. Mosaic tile has its own rules, and this Albany job touched most of them. Hexagonal mosaic comes in sheets, with dozens of small tiles held together by a mesh backing. Unlike larger tile, it’s set without spacers.
