Older home remodeling in Lomita, Los Angeles County
Remodeling Older Houses in Lomita
When an older Lomita house has a widened opening without a real header, structural work leads the remodel before wiring, pipe or finishes begin.
A doorway widened long ago with no proper header puts structural work at the top of the list in an older Lomita house. Signs include a ceiling that sags over the opening, doors upstairs or nearby that bind, and cracks fanning out from the corners. Before new wiring, new pipe or a new layout, that load path has to be rebuilt, so the walls and trim we plan to keep are not stressed again.
Fixing the load path in a Lomita home
We start by shoring the ceiling with temporary posts so nothing moves while the old framing comes out. An engineer sizes a new header or beam, along with the posts and footings that carry it down to the soil. Floor joists that were notched for old plumbing get sistered, and a crawlspace without anchor bolts or braced cripple walls is retrofitted in the same phase. The building department that serves Lomita reviews the structural sheets and inspects the framing before anything is covered, so the rest of the remodel rests on sound work.
Systems and finishes after the framing
Next in line are the hidden systems. Cloth wrapped circuits are pulled and replaced, the panel is resized, and corroded galvanized supply is swapped for new lines. Plaster cracks that grew from the old sag are cut back to solid material and filled, and original casing and baseboard removed for the framing work go back in their own places. Wood sash and doors are planed only after the frame settles, since a straightened opening often frees a window that had been stuck. On a suburban inland lot, exterior repairs favor paint and caulk rated for hard sun.
What we can do for a house in Lomita
Whole-house work leads, and every other service is available for the same house.
Planning work on a house in Lomita?
Tell us about it. We will walk through the house and send a written scope.