Irvine Construction Blog
4 Important Things to Remember When Designing a New Home
Making the decision to design a new home is as exciting as it can be scary. If you’ve never had any experience designing a home or planning a construction project before, you may be feeling overwhelmed at the sheer number of things you need to decide before construction can start. Basic decisions such as number of bedrooms and bathrooms, style, and how big to make the kitchen are typical things that don’t get easily overlooked in the planning process. However, there are some considerations that may not be as obvious to every homeowner getting ready to plan a new build….
Telling Your Historic Home’s Story through the Renovation Process
The time has come: You’re getting ready to renovate your historic home. It’s withstood the test of time, gathering quite an interesting history as it’s gone along. You want to keep that great story going into the future, but you know that your home needs some modernization and renovation to really make it yours. Whether you’re just renovating one bathroom or bedroom, or doing a full-scale upgrade, you want to preserve the history of your home throughout the renovation process. Here are 3 ways you can tell your historic home’s story during and after the renovation process: Look to the…
5 Tips for Setting a Budget for Your Historic Home Remodel
You love your historic home. From its location to its layout all the way down to its historical and architectural significance, you want to keep it in the best shape possible. Unfortunately, your home has seen better days. Now it’s time for a remodel. But where do you even start with your historic home remodel? It’s a huge undertaking that requires some careful considerations, not the least of which is your budget for the project. To get you started, here are 5 tips for setting a budget for your historic home remodel: Decide What You Want to Do Are you…
4 Tips For Remodeling Your Historic Home’s Bathroom for Function While Preserving Historical Significance
Owning an historic home has its appeal and charm, but it also has its challenges. Older homes have many quirks that sometimes make them less-than-functional for your modern needs. There is no place this rings more true than in the bathroom. A bathroom is usually the smallest room in the house, but serves the most purpose. It’s where you get ready for your day, and decompress in the evening, and everything in between, so it needs to be in working order. Dealing with an older home means working with older pipes and fixtures that, over time, have worn down and…
4 Tips for Buying an Historic House
If you are in the market for a home and want something one-of-a-kind, an historic home may be just what you are looking for. Many older homes are made with different materials and contain different floor plans and fixtures that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. While owning a charming piece of history has its appeal, it can also come with a lot of responsibility. Many times, an owner of an historic home is expected to preserve the integrity of the original design. Here are some tips on how to go about purchasing an historic house to make…
5 Things You Need to Know about Adding a Second Story
You love your home. The layout, the schools, the neighborhood – Everything about it is perfect. Except … It’s too small. If you want to stay in your home but have more room for your growing family – or just to be able to have that home office – you want to add on to your home. In most cases, this means you have two options: Building up or building out. For homes that have maximized all their horizontal space, or homes where adding additional foundational work is impractical, adding a second story is the way to go. But before…
Can I Modernize My Historic Home’s Siding?
When renovating an historic home, much of the focus can be placed on the heavy-hitters – windows, floors, and fixtures – while other things are put by the wayside. Many historic homes are drafty, and much time is spent debating and picking out new windows and whether to add insulation to the walls. However, the siding of your historic home can contribute just as much to its energy-efficiency as the windows, and it’s often left to a last-minute decision. Depending on how well-kept your home’s siding was, you may need to fully replace it, which poses the question: Can I…
5 Things to Remember When Choosing a Floor Plan for Your Home
Building your own home means you get to decide what style and features meet your needs and the needs of your family. You’re limited only by your imagination and your budget, meaning you aren’t locked into any one design. One of the first decisions you must make when building your own home is the floor plan. How many rooms do you want, where will they be located, and what purpose will each room serve? You have the freedom to decide whether you want to use a pre-designed floor plan, completely create your own, or make modifications to an existing plan….
What Can I Expect From the Design Plan Process?
When you’re planning to remodel or add an addition to a house, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Questions about budget, time, or even possibility can keep some people from moving forward. At Irvine Construction, we break down the process of designing a remodel or addition as seamless as possible. Here’s what you can expect from the design plan process: The first steps involve a consultation over the phone with one of our specialists to talk over your desires for your remodel. Giving us a few ideas to work with will help us prepare for a face-to-face meeting, as well as…
4 Qualities to Look for in a CAD Firm
You’re on the hunt for the perfect computer-aided design (CAD) firm to help you draw up the plans for your dream home. Lots of places say they’re great at CAD, but how can you separate the ones who are just talking and the firms that are truly good at what they do? Here are 4 key qualities of a great CAD firm: Technical Competence Just because a firm says they “use” a certain type of software doesn’t mean their designers know all the ins and outs of that software. You want to find a firm that knows the software…
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