Larosa Engineering

Menlo Park (2010): This is an existing 2-storey house with a small 7-ft ceiling height basement. Engineering Featured: The conversion of the existing basement from 7-ft ceiling height to over 9.5 feet without raising the building and adding more basement space by extending the footprint of the basement into (below) the new rear porch. The addition of more basement space became more challenging when most of the ceilings in the second floor were raised and the existing ground floor walls (load bearing and shear walls) were either taken out or moved to create a more open space

Tiburon: This is an existing 2-storey house situated in a sloped lot. Engineering Featured: The opening up of the entire concaved multi-storey walls to meet the architect’s intent of maximizing the view of the San Francisco cityscape and the Golden Gate Bridge, the addition of the cantilevered heavy tile decking and the extension of the existing building with a 3-storey new addition while keeping most of the existing roof and floor framing. To achieve these challenges, steel columns were used to replace the existing wall wood framing and the building of a retaining wall after excavation below the existing lower floor for creating the space.

Menlo Park (2008): This is an existing single-storey house with second storey and a large basement addition. Engineering Featured: The addition of a large 9-ft. pl. height basement and 2nd storey while keeping most of the existing floor framing plan.

Atherton: This is an existing single-storey house with a second storey-addition and increasing the square footage of the ground floor. . Engineering Featured: The intricate roof framing which demanded vaulted ceilings on all of the second floor dictated by the complicated plate height differences and some curved roof. Creative roof and 2nd floor framing was also an integral part in satisfying the owner’s desire for an “open floor plan” in the main floor.

Hillsborough: This is an existing single-storey house on a sloped lot and with high crawl space. Engineering Featured: The addition of interior retaining walls to create additional living spaces from the existing crawl space. Existing roof trusses with flat ceilings were also vaulted and some room opened.