CHELSEA CARPENTRY

My house was built in 1925. During a roof replacement in 1985 by another firm, I experienced water damage to the ceilings upstairs when a tarp blew off in a rainstorm. this eventually weakened the plaster and lathe ceilings, and after traveling for work for four years, I discovered dangerous cracks in the ceilings and a portion of a bedroom ceiling had fallen. this was in 2004. I took a break from work and called mark about the ceiling. I had never looked forward to coming home while I traveled because the house needed interior work and it was depressing to see after staying in good hotels. Mark discussed the idea of remodeling and pointed out that the bathroom walls showed severe damage by the tub. The bathroom was tiny and had no storage space for towels or toiletries besides the medicine cabinet. I pointed out the narrow closet in my bedroom, which was adjacent to the bathroom, and asked if that space could be used for expanding the bathroom. Mark drew up plans to show me, and suggested turning the hall closet upstairs into a walk-in closet for the bedroom. I readily agreed. He moved the closet door to the bedroom, put a new wall in the hall to close it, expanded the old bathroom so that it has an enclosed tub with staggered shelves, and set in cabinetry with tiles as a shelf cover so that it went into the wall, finding space I never had. While working on the bathroom, he discovered that previous owners had sacrificed supporting beams when the kitchen was expanded so that the bathroom was literally being supported by the roof beams. This was corrected and the integrity of the structure has been regained. When Mark and Harvey couldn't get the tiles delivered quickly enough from one vendor to complete the bathroom, we found another local vendor that had beautiful tiles that were more costly than the original, but they were able to deliver. I loved the new tiles and agreed to the extra cost without hesitation. The result is a work of art. In fact, I love the house so much more after the work they did, that I can't fathom ever moving even though it is a small house (about 1325 sq. ft.). Mark and Harvey made the best of the space available. I didn't think what they accomplished was possible. They had a well chosen team of workers and were on time every day. They parked a dumpster in the back of the house and carried every bit of scrap away. One day, my cat got too curious and crawled under the floor in the bathroom and I heard his cries after they left. Once I pinpointed his location, I called Mark and he told me exactly how to gain access to get the cat out. No damage was done, and once the under floor work was completed (which Mark did the next day), the floor was closed without any loss of cats. Mark even went so far as to hang the shower curtain for me, even though I could have done it myself. These guys couldn't be more thorough. I hope I can get them back for one more room and to rebuild my garage and add a bath.