Interior Renovations
We design many interior renovation projects each year. Many new homeowners can’t wait to update the look and feel of their old Toronto homes by removing walls, installing new exterior insulation, and adding more living space by converting dark and damp basements to dry and fresh living spaces for their loved ones.
Interior renovations are fairly easy to design since all of the proposed changes are on the inside of the house – this means that there are no changes to the exterior which minimizes the amount of design, drafting, and municipal approvals needed. In fact, as long as you are not adding a new dwelling unit to the home, most interior renovation projects can be designed and drawn up by our office in about 2 weeks, and building permit approvals can usually be obtained within about 10 business days.
We can help you decide what makes sense for your home, balancing functional design considerations with project budget and specific client needs. One of our architectural technologists would be pleased to help, and they will draw upon the expertise of our in-house structural engineers to ensure that the changes account for all needed structural alterations.
Basement lowering by underpinning, and removing load-bearing walls, are considered an interior renovation projects.
Questions & Answers
I want to make a cathedral ceiling in my bedroom
This is very popular and in many cases, we can provide design details which will allow for this kind of structural modification to the ceiling (and roof) of the house.
Ceiling joists (which support the ceiling of a bedroom) often provide lateral restraint to the top of the exterior walls…they act as a “tie” to keep the lower ends of the sloped roof rafters from pushing the walls out horizontally. Cutting ceiling joists can be very risky and you should obtain the advice of a structural engineer before doing any modifications to the ceiling of your bedroom.
I want to remove a wall in my house and my contractor says that I need an engineer
Ok, then your contractor has probably identified that the wall is a load-bearing wall and that a beam or some other form of strengthening is needed to facilitate the wall removal. We regularly provide design drawings and obtain permits for clients who want to remove walls and/or strengthen existing structures.
How long will it take for you to provide the engineering design that’s needed?
Most of our design projects for small structural renovations take only about 2-3 weeks to prepare. We may need to measure your house, and then prepare design drawings and specifications for the structural work that is needed.
Links
Interior Renovations info sheet
Download a sample Interior Renovations info sheet.