Project 01 — Additions
A tired, boarded-over side door on an Ottawa brick bungalow became a properly founded, fully insulated entrance addition — with a mudroom inside that finally handles boots, coats and winter.
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Category
Addition & entrance
Scope
Excavation, foundation, framing, cladding, mudroom
Year
2025
Duration
Approximately 10 weeks
The brief
The original side entrance was a painted steel door set into a patched opening, with sheathing exposed where old cladding had failed and grade sloping straight back toward the foundation. Every thaw sent water where it shouldn't go, and the door opened directly into the middle of the house with nowhere to put anything.
A real entrance. Something weather-tight and warm that looked like it had always been part of the house, with enough room inside for a family to land — hooks, a bench, cubbies and a floor that can take a wet winter without complaint.
Before
The build
Every stage was run by the same project manager, with our own trades on site from the first bucket of soil to the last coat of paint.
We opened the ground along the foundation wall, corrected the grade and gave the new footing solid, undisturbed bearing. Access was tight — a compact excavator worked between the neighbouring house and the fence, with hoarding and plywood protecting the existing pavers.
Compacted granular, a vapour barrier and two inches of rigid XPS under the slab. Every joint lapped and sealed so the new floor stays dry and warm rather than pulling cold up through the entry in January.
Walls framed, sheathed and squared off the new slab, tied back into the existing structure and roofline. This is the stage that decides whether an addition reads as an addition — the plate heights, the header and the roof pitch were all set to disappear into the original bungalow.
Board-and-batten steel cladding in a deep graphite, matched aluminium soffit and fascia, new eavestrough and downspout, and a full-lite door in the family's signature yellow. Warm brick, dark metal, one confident colour.
Inside, custom millwork in a deep olive green: a tall broom cupboard, beadboard back panel, four cast-iron hooks, an open shelf and a solid pine bench over three cubbies. Large-format porcelain tile underfoot, sloped just enough to shed melt water.
Details
Outcome
The entrance now carries water away from the house instead of toward it, holds heat through an Ottawa winter, and gives the family somewhere to actually arrive. From the driveway it reads as original — which is the point.
See more of our work“An entrance takes more abuse than any other part of a house. Build it like it has to last twenty years, because it does.”
Start your addition
Tell us what you need the space to do and we'll walk you through scope, permits and a firm quote.
We typically respond within one business day.
