Project No. 01Stoney Lake.

Type

Rebuild on the original footprint

Location

Stoney Lake, Kawarthas, Ontario

We lifted the original cottage fifteen feet, excavated a new basement out of shield rock, and set it back down on a new foundation.

I took on Stoney Lake when I was twenty. It was meant to be a small renovation, and it became a full rebuild. We lifted the cottage about fifteen feet in the air, then spent three weeks with a twenty-one-ton excavator breaking a basement out of the shield rock underneath. We poured new footings and walls and put in the drainage and stone, then rigid insulation, in-floor heat, and a stamped concrete floor. Then we set the cottage back down on its new foundation. From there I decided the walls had to go too. All new lumber, new exterior walls, new trusses, and a new window wall, followed by new insulation, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and every finish after that. In a lot of ways it was harder than building new, because every decision had to work inside the original footprint. I kept that footprint on purpose. The house sits close to the water, and once a footprint like that is gone, you don't get it back. Somewhere in the middle of running the trades on this house, my brother and I realized this was the work we wanted to do.