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Behind the Walls
Behind the Walls
Notes and stories from a high-end builder
Finished photos show what we built. These are the stories behind them.
Written by Alex PellOwner and general contractor · CSLB 1037561
West Berkeley ADU: rough plumbing and electrical, before the walls close up
The Latest
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The Easiest Shower to Keep Clean Has the Least Grout
A low-maintenance shower starts with less grout. Two regrets come up with clients year after year, light grout and small tile or mosaic, and both are grout problems. On our Montclair bathroom, a one-piece tray replaced the tub and the…
By Alex Pell
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Changing the Layout Drives Bathroom Remodel Cost More Than Your Finishes
A Bay Area bathroom remodel runs from about $20,000 to $130,000 and up in our 2026 pricing. Which range you’re in depends on the layout and the work behind it:…
By Alex Pell
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We Gutted a Bathroom Across the Hall From the Owner’s Office
On our 2026 Montclair job in Oakland, we gutted a third-floor bathroom while a family of three lived at home and one of the owners worked from an office across…
By Alex Pell
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The Engineer Signed Off. The Door Still Failed.
A Douglas fir 4×14 header over a 12-foot bi-fold door passed the engineer and still sagged enough to bind the door about two months after final inspection. The door maker…
By Alex Pell
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Makeup Air: The High-CFM Hood You Want Needs One
A high-CFM hood pulls hundreds of cubic feet of air a minute out of a house, and it comes back in through every gap, cold and unfiltered. On our all-electric…
By Alex Pell
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ZIP Sheathing: What Is It, and Why Do You Want It Under Your Roof?
In November 2025 I left a framed backyard building in South Berkeley for 17 days with my tools inside and nothing on the roof but taped ZIP sheathing. Two big…
By Alex Pell
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The Wall Wasn’t Load-Bearing. It Still Cost $5,000 to Remove.
The wall between the kitchen and dining room on our 2019 El Cerrito remodel wasn’t load-bearing, and the engineer cleared it. But an old asbestos furnace flue in the soffit…
By Alex Pell
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Your Home’s Condition Drives Kitchen Remodel Cost More Than Your Finishes
A Bay Area kitchen remodel runs from about $20,000 to $150,000 and up in our 2026 pricing. Which range you’re in depends on the house: whether it’s a partial remodel…
By Alex Pell
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Just One Sink Delayed a Kitchen by Nearly Three Months
In 2019, the farmhouse sink my client loved sold out before it was ordered, and the kitchen remodel delays that followed added up to nearly three months. Buying it was…
By Alex Pell
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Why Trim Joints Open Up, and Why I Preassemble Casing
Trim joints separate because houses move. They shift with heat and cold, and new framing settles, sometimes as much as half an inch in the first six months. Preassembling the…
By Alex Pell
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The Plumbing Lesson I Learned the Hard Way on a Piedmont Addition
Keep as much plumbing in the crawl space as you can, or you may end up with water hammer the whole house can hear. Send up only what has to…
By Alex Pell
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We Ordered the Window to Fit the Tile
This bathroom tile layout started with the tile itself: we bought it during pre-construction, about seven months before installing it, and framed the room to its actual dimensions. We even…
By Alex Pell
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PG&E Said the Meter Had to Go on the Front. Here’s How We Got It on the Side.
If PG&E tells you your new service has to go on the front of the house, ask them which Greenbook section requires it. On our Adams Point ADU in Oakland,…
By Alex Pell
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Prosoco: The Best In-Wall Waterproofing
For most of a century, the barrier behind a wall’s siding was tar paper. Then came plastic house wrap, stapled on and full of holes from day one. A liquid…
By Alex Pell
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Kitchen Permits Move at the City’s Pace. Get Ahead of It.
How long does a kitchen remodel take? On our jobs, 8 weeks to 5 months from the first meeting to cooking again, and the permit path your scope puts you…
By Alex Pell
Facing a decision like this on your own project?
Talk it through with Alex on a free 15-minute call.
Book a 15-minute call (510) 239-7589