Videos

Plaster Restoration

We were hired to remove wall paper from this 1800s home. As you can imagine, the plaster walls were in very rough shape. Plaster from that era was never really meant to be painted so a great deal of work was required so that the walls could be painted. Cracks covered every wall. In the home office, the plaster was so bad that we needed to remove entire sections of plaster before our restoration began.

All of the original trim stayed attached to the walls and was protected so that we could keep the character of it throughout the house. We used a special mesh coating on most of the wall surfaces throughout the house and skim coated each wall a minimum of 4 times. The final coat was sanded smoothly and paint was applied. The entire house had sheetrock overlays installed on every ceiling. We painted the ceilings, walls, and all trim throughout the house. The final product was spectacular. In the kitchen, there was a dip in the ceiling so we removed the sheetrock to see what was causing the issue. What we found was scary.

The previous contractor had done some plumbing work improperly and cut many of the ceiling joists above to run the plumbing drains. The sag was from the joists that had started to buckle and sag from the weight of the two bathrooms above. We needed to re-frame the entire kitchen ceiling and custom cut and scribe each individual joist to conform to the floor above. All of the window weights along with the broken window panes for the original windows were repaired where necessary. We used antique wavy glass for the repairs. The original heart pine floors were sanded and refinished as well.

HGTV Intro Video

Learn more about Gove Restoration! HGTV asked us to submit a series of videos about us and our projects. Here is the video that explains a little about us!

Biscuit joining the lath on our mantel surround

Using a biscuit joiner to strengthen the joints between our lath strips on our mantel surround.

Herringbone tile installation

Installing travertine tile on a herringbone pattern.

Mantel surround continued

Trimming the recessed panel with cove moulding.

Crown Moulding Installation

Installing some crown moulding around a fireplace. Setting up a template and dry-fitting a small coped piece.

Kitchen Remodel: Behind the Scenes

This was a large-scale remodel where a lot of planning and construction was done behind the scenes. So much goes into our projects and we want to give some insight into a few ways we make our projects stand out by putting the care and attention in behind the scenes.

Double Bath Remodel #2

This is the second bathroom the homeowner asked us to remodel as part of the double bathroom remodel project. This room was also re-framed completely so that the walls and ceiling were square and level.

The original walls of the home were built from random lumber so it was quite a challenge to square off the room properly. Hardibacker cement board was installed on the floor and on the walls of the shower. We used Hydroban moisture barrier on the shower walls to create a nice, watertight surface for the tile to be installed on. A beautiful tub was installed along with nice plumbing fixtures. The shower tile matched the floor tile and we installed a shower niche for soap bottles. We were able to frame a beautiful linen closet and we were able to order a door that matched the existing doors throughout the house.

V-groove PVC beadboard was installed throughout the bathroom along with a Lifespan naturally pressure treated custom pine beadboard cap. New lighting, vanity, toilet, and sink were also installed. We finished off the room with custom made mouldings that were made to match the existing moulding throughout the house.

T. Kitchen

This kitchen renovation really opened up the layout of this home. We removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room and built a high half wall with breakfast bar. We also closed off one entry into the kitchen from the front foyer. This enabled us to install cabinetry up to the wall which maximized the cabinet space.

New insulation, electrical, and plumbing was installed. Recessed lighting along with curio lights were installed to light the room. We installed a beautiful island range hood over the range and finished the area off with some brand new oak flooring and matte white subway tile with grey grout for the back splash. We installed new matching trim along with a nice two door pantry door and painted the kitchen, living room, and foyer.

Kitchen Remodel Almost Complete

Double Bath Remodel #1

This Master Bathroom was part of a double bathroom remodeling project we were hired for. Our main concern was the goal of keeping some of the historical components of the house present while modernizing the bathroom. We started by removing all of the walls and ceilings and uncovered that the structural rafters of both bathrooms had been cut and mostly removed during the previous remodel. This subsequently weakened the roof and required the entire roof structure on this addition to be re-framed and made safe. We installed a new ridge beam and structural rafters.

Once that was finished, we re-framed the entire ceiling and walls of both bathrooms. In the Master Bathroom, we kept the heart pine floor. It needed some patching in spots and we were able to harvest some floor boards from the attic and install them as our floor patches. A beautiful V-groove PVC beadboard wainscoting was installed on the walls and we custom made a wainscot cap out of Lifespan naturally pressure treated pine.

All of the trim in the room is highly moisture resistant which is good in a bathroom area. A custom shower was installed. A tiled base was installed along with a nice granite bench, curb, and shelf. The granite had a matte, or leather finish on it which gave it some texture. We installed a nice shower niche for soap bottles along with a flush mounted shower head on the ceiling. A frameless glass door was installed as well.

All of the window and door trim was custom made to match the trim throughout the rest of the house and we installed all new lighting and plumbing fixtures. We created a nice storage room off the bathroom and installed a weather-tight door which lead to an unheated storage space off the back of the bathroom. A beautiful double vanity was installed and the whole room was painted. This ended up being a gorgeous bathroom which had subtle historic components which complimented the new remodel nicely.

1920's exterior restoration

This was a great fall project for us. We were able to bring this house back to it's original look from when it was first built. The owners wanted to remove the vinyl siding that was covering up the original cedar clapboards on the house. In order to side the house, the previous contractor had to destroy all of the drip caps over the windows, the water table drip cap, many of the clapboards, and a lot of the original trim. Once the siding was removed, we had to go through and redo all of the damaged moulding and repair all of the damaged clapboard. Approximately 1800 feet of clapboard was replaced and we also reused much of the original clapboard where we could.

The house was chemically stripped of the paint and we washed down the clapboard, primed it with an oil primer, and painted it with a very nice gray/blue finish paint. We also replaced the front storm door with a new Cypress door which will last much longer than the previous pine door and we installed some matching windows on the rear of the house. Enjoy!

Basement Remodel #1 Rough Framing

This was a video of a basement remodel during the rough framing and insulation phase. You can see the large amount of framing required to finish the space.

Finishing the mantel surround

Finishing off a craftsman style mantel surround with some custom base moulding for our column bases. Making the column bases look like larger versions of our beaded base trim by ripping off the beaded detail from the shorter base and applying it to the taller column base.

Basement Remodel #2 Finished Basement

Completely finished this unfinished basement. Created two rooms to increase the usable square footage of this house. Due to the tight space at the end of the stairs, we designed a removable rail section so the homeowner can easily remove it to maneuver large furniture in and out of the space. New insulation, lighting, sheetrock, doors, and trim were installed throughout the space.