by David Frane
Most kitchens contain so many cabinets and appliances
there’s hardly any space for windows. Jef Forward, of
Forward Designers & Builders in Ann Arbor, Mich., has come
up with a unique solution to this problem: He shoehorns a
fixed-sash window into the space above the range hood (1). He
has done this on a couple of occasions; for one kitchen, he
used a stock-size Pella unit and for another, an easily
customizable Andersen Flexiframe unit. On this particular
project, the window (2) is located at what had formerly been
the corner of the building — the area to the right is a
small addition. When Forward built the addition, he had to
remove the rear wall of the house and pick up the roof loads
with an LVL beam. The beam is centered above the new window and
hangs from an LVL header that sits on the top plates. The
exhaust duct from the range hood exits the wall just below the
window (3). According to Forward, installing a window in the
space above a range hood is easier than it looks — and
well worth the trouble, because it brings in valuable natural
light. Clients love this detail, and it’s earned Forward
a number of referrals. — David Frane
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Bench Bump-Outs Expand a
Narrow Porch
The original screened porch was like hundreds of others in
Richmond, Va., where I work — an 8-foot-by-20-foot slab
set on a masonry foundation across the back of the house with a
roof overhead. The client said the space always felt too narrow
when he had guests over, so he asked me to look into ideas for
expansion. The local zoning official told me that the existing
porch was already 1 1/2 feet closer to the property line than
allowed, but after some discussion said he would support a
variance for a small addition out the back — a maximum of
2 feet — as long as I didn’t expand the
porch’s actual footprint. Other builders suggested a
cantilever approach, but I kept coming back to the idea of a
projecting triangular support — like the scaffold braces
I make out of 2x4s whenever I need them (1). I contacted an
engineer, and he came back with a plan for the connection
details (2). Since we couldn’t easily expand the floor,
the obvious thing was to add seating (3). With the windows
above (4), the extra 2 feet in the two bays makes a big
difference in the feel of the space. The owner plans to put
cushions on the benches (5). Simple finishes on the exterior
wrapped up the job (6). Geoffrey Zimmerman is a remodeling
contractor in Richmond, Va.
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