ou
wouldn't guess from looking at her now," beams the proud, longtime
owner of one of the first homes in San Mateo County, "but this
great house was on her last legs before DJ Dowling General Contractor's
crews got their hands on it. Their tremendous dedication put
the life back in the place."
As the
1902 vintage residence approached its centennial anniversary,
the foundation was failing. Badly. Originally built from cement
mixed with mud and river rocks from nearby Crystal Springs
Creek, the foundation had settled and eroded to the point
that many of the leaded glass windows throughout the house
had jammed in their openings. Or worse yet, they wouldn't
close at all. With the windows ruined, water intrusion became
common, causing extensive leaks and dry rot.
To the
rescue came Mark
King, one of DJ Dowling's versatile foremen. "The finished
materials used in the original construction were amazing,"
says King, with awe for the six-inch thick, twenty-foot long
curved redwood sills he found himself re-crafting.
"Unfortunately,
they used the windows for structural support for the second
story. Not a post or beam in sight once we got in there. When
someone says 'they don't build 'em like they used to,' I always
add, 'and thank goodness.' This place needed help."
"We knew
we needed a contractor with a diverse skill set," explains
the house's owner, "but such a contractor is a rarity these
days. Dan Dowling insists on getting the most from his men.
In turn, his men get the most from their materials. Like our
home, they're one of a kind."
The challenges
they faced ranged from rebuilding curved window frames with
leaded glass, to re-supporting floors and roof loads that
had borne on the windows, to excavating and pouring a new
curved, reinforced concrete foundation without disturbing
the existing supports. This last act required King, a classically
built tradesman at 6'3", to daily squeeze himself and his
materials through a tiny crawl space that would never be tolerated
under modern building codes. King swells with pride when reminded
of the accomplishment of locking the framing in place. "Just
look at the results. Without securing the foundation, I couldn't
have maintained the tight tolerances on those gorgeous windows."
This
year's El Nino storms have provided the grand old dame with
one of her greatest tests since the 1906 earthquake shook
her in her fourth year. She has passed with flying colors.
"The
way she got put back together," boasts the owner, "she'll
easily go another hundred years. What a gift."
