Laurel Avenue Renovation
A 1928 Craftsman bungalow brought to net-zero with a seismic soft-story retrofit, a rear addition, and a kitchen that won a 2023 NKBA award — all while preserving every original fir floor.
The Challenge
The bungalow's soft-story condition — a raised foundation with no cripple-wall bracing — required a full seismic upgrade before the addition could begin. The existing Douglas fir floors were irreplaceable; any remediation of hidden structural members had to occur from below, not above. The clients were expecting a child during construction and wanted to occupy the rear guest unit throughout.
Our Approach
We phased the soft-story retrofit to work entirely from the crawl space, installing steel moment frames between floor joists without disturbing a single board above. The rear addition was designed on a separate structural grid that bypasses the historic fabric of the bungalow at every connection point. We converted the detached garage into a temporary office and delivered all trades to the site on a written noise schedule around the owner's work-from-home hours.
The Outcome
The renovation achieved LEED Platinum with a HERS score of -3 (net-zero by the numbers). The original fir floors were not only preserved but refinished with a water-based satin that reads within 5% color variance of the original. The NKBA award citation called the kitchen 'a rare example of Craftsman reverence in a modern program.'
- renovation
- craftsman
- net-zero
- seismic
- LEED
- addition