EPA Sets Lead Paint Safety Requirements For Contractors

Wentworth, Inc. is now an EPA certified renovator to lead safety for renovation, repair and painting (RRP).

Bruce Wentworth, President and Steven Barnard, Production Manager, have both taken the 8 hour, 8 module course offered by The Training Network and accredited by EPA/HUD. Certification is good for five years at which time a refresher course shall be taken. EPA requirements became effective April, 22, 2010.

Lead paint in the United States was banned in 1978 and homes built prior to that typically used lead paint. Alterations to homes with lead paint are to be handled in approved ways primarily for the safety of children under the age of 6 and pregnant women.

The hazard areas are often: a. peeling and flaking lead paint, b. friction surfaces such as the bottom of a sash window, c. impact surfaces like treads, risers, jambs, and doors. Prior to commencing remodeling the home shall be tested for lead paint by a certified renovator. If lead paint is found in the area to be remodeled there are standard practices for dealing with the removal of materials, and dust with lead paint. To learn more about lead paint issues in your home read the EPA guide called “Renovate Right” available at www.EPA.gov/lead
Bruce Wentworth, AIACertificate Number R-I-18343-10-00591

And the Winners Are...

The staff at Wentworth loves to win awards for their home remodeling work and be recognized by their peers…so when the National Association of Remodeling Industry (NARI) announced that Wentworth, Inc. (www.wentworthstudio.com) had won four Contractor of the Year awards (COTY) we were all thrilled. The Metro DC Chapter of NARI awarded the Capital Cotys at a black tie event held at the Marriott in Bethesda on January 30, 2010.Wentworth, Inc. was represented at the ceremony by Bruce Wentworth, AIA, President, and Steven Barnard, Director of Construction. Four times they walked up to the podium to receive the award plaques.

Bruce Wentworth, AIA and Steven Barnard

accepting one of the four CotY Awards

Wentworth, Inc. was represented at the ceremony by Bruce Wentworth, AIA, President, and Steven Barnard, Director of Construction. Four times they walked up to the podium to receive the award plaques.

The Remodeled garage is now a family room.

A spacious master bath

Custom details

A facade remodel

Master Design Award Winner

2009 (Fort Atkinson, WI)- Wentworth, Inc. has been named a winner in the prestigious 31st Annual Qualified Remodeler (QR) Master Design Awards Contest. Wentworth, Inc. won GOLD in the Kitchen >$100,000 category.

Sponsored by Qualified Remodeler magazine, the Master Design Awards is the premier national contest recognizing outstanding achievement in residential remodeling projects in 22 categories. For information visit www.qualifiedremodeler.com.

About the Winning Project
A 1880s, end-unit, brick row house was desperately in need of a new kitchen. The old kitchen had been poorly remodeled in the 1970s and required a complete gutting to the brick walls and floor joists. The homeowners desired a new kitchen that took advantage of views into a newly landscaped rear garden, created a breakfast bar for two, an area for laptops with mail cubbies, and opened the wall between the new kitchen and dining room to make their home more suited to informal living. A rear door was relocated and made taller to suit the new cabinet layout and take-in garden views.

Challenges of this Project
The poor conditions required new framing to make the walls plumb & square, and the narrow space (11’-4” x 14’) required a careful design. The south wall has 12” deep, full height cabinets flanking a counter. A north wall accommodates all appliances, sink, and new casement window. Tight cabinet conditions required that the new rear door be repositioned which also helped with garden views.

Creative Solutions
Careful design accommodates a center island. A cherry counter top distinguishes the island from the adjacent stone countertops. Pendant lighting accents the island and leads the eye to the garden. A 12” deep wall of pantry cabinetry flanks a counter top used for laptops, mail cubbies, and cell phones. The symmetrical design is reinforced with a custom coffered-beam ceiling that accentuates the height and gives panache to an informal space.

Project Results
The overall results are exceptionally well suited to the modestly scaled historic row house. The living spaces now flow front to back – with the kitchen acting as the link to the rear garden and completes the home’s living space. Although a small scale house it now feels spacious. The new kitchen utilizes carefully planned, upscale detailing, that gives the home a sense of understated, practical luxury. All is appropriate.

Creative Solutions
Careful design accommodates a center island. A cherry counter top distinguishes the island from the adjacent stone countertops. Pendant lighting accents the island and leads the eye to the garden. A 12” deep wall of pantry cabinetry flanks a counter top used for laptops, mail cubbies, and cell phones. The symmetrical design is reinforced with a custom coffered-beam ceiling that accentuates the height and gives panache to an informal space.

Project Results
The overall results are exceptionally well suited to the modestly scaled historic row house. The living spaces now flow front to back – with the kitchen acting as the link to the rear garden and completes the home’s living space. Although a small scale house it now feels spacious. The new kitchen utilizes carefully planned, upscale detailing, that gives the home a sense of understated, practical luxury. All is appropriate.

Wentworth, Inc. Honored with Outstanding Award

Washington Spaces Honors Wentworth, Inc. with
Outstanding Award in the Best of Remodeling Competition.

Washington Spaces magazine named Wentworth, Inc. of Chevy Chase, Maryland, the Outstanding Recipient in the Washington Spaces Best of Remodeling Competition, in the category, interiors less than $100,000. The winning project is featured in the summer issue of Washington Spaces magazine.


About the Project
The winning design was a small but integral part of a first floor addition to a 1970s Colonial style home in Potomac, Maryland. Sometimes a small addition makes a big difference. This was the case for the 4’ x 30’ addition on this single family home. The existing narrow kitchen, small breakfast area, and screened porch did not fit the family’s needs. The homeowner requested a new larger kitchen with an island, a mud room with ample storage, and a breakfast space with banquette seating for six. The one-story rear addition made a significant difference in the home’s livability and functionality. The new addition was appropriately sized to maximize the interior space and work with an adjacent back patio.

The client requested an expansion of their kitchen and breakfast room but the addition’s size was constrained by an existing brick retaining wall. A steel beam and intermediate steel column were installed to open up the rear wall. The column was concealed within a new partition with a punched-opening that visually links the kitchen and dining areas.

Creative solutions include enclosing an existing screen porch as a mudroom with a service sink and cubbies. A bay window at the kitchen sink expands the depth of the counter top. Floor to ceiling windows at the breakfast area flood the room with natural light and are integrated with the custom banquette. Exterior stucco-like cladding gives the addition the appearance of a bay.

The four foot addition improves function and aesthetics. The homeowners feel the design achieved more than they had hoped for: breakfast room, kitchen with island, mud room, and improved rear facade. White painted cabinetry, glass cabinet doors, dark gray granite countertops, oak floors, and hip pendant light fixtures will remain functional and stylish for years to come.

A Passion for the Craft

By Bruce Wentworth, AIA

Craftsmanship, and a passion for woodworking, is a wonderful combination to have in a carpenter. This is the fortunate talent for Steven Barnard, Wentworth, Inc’s production manager. Not only does Steven enjoy constructing and supervising our client’s remodeling projects…he loves to spend free time at his home shop creating custom items fabricated from exotic woods. Bowls, trays, ball point pens, and custom home accessories are examples of his craft work. The man knows what he likes.

Three of his recent projects illustrate his attention to detail and creative use of modern tools to fabricate items with old world charm.

Cake Platter
A circular platter, fabricated from a South American wood called Jatoba, has pie-crust scalloping (often called flutes), and is elevated on a turned-base. The wood is sometimes referred to as Brazilian Cherrywood although it is not from a cherry tree. What looks like a hand chiseled flute pattern on the surface of the platter was actually created with a guided router and box core bit. To index the flutes he used an old 40 tooth saw blade with a small strip of ¼” plywood to create the ratcheting system. The flutes were router cut with a box core bit and took forty repetitive passes. The base, turned on a lathe, was made of 70 pieces of wood and glued to form the segmented round base with a flared plinth.

Custom Crown Moldings
Custom moldings are something we frequently need when remodeling older homes. Many of Wentworth’s remodeling projects are for older, often historic, homes with crown molding, base, chair rails, and plate rails being altered that are no longer available as stock catalog items. Steven’s wood working skills make it possible to quickly replicate old moldings without resorting to an expensive private millwork shop with long lead times. A recent project involved alterations to a 1880s Queen Anne residence on Capitol Hill. Because the oversized crown molding was to be painted a Poplar wood was utilized. Poplar strips were glued up as thick lengths of lumber and ripped to size. Using the old molding sample, the profile was traced onto the new wood to determine which of the router bits should be used, and in which order, to replicate the molding profile. All of this was run on a router table at his home shop.

Custom Stair and Newel Posts
A recent project in a small older urban townhouse required that our carpenters build a custom stair and railings. This new stair replaced an existing winder staircase that had been poorly built. Every tread was a different size to fit the tight space. Treads, risers, railing and newels were all custom oak work. These newels were also built by Steven using a lathe along with good eye and hand work.

Remodeling older homes is more complicated than building new. It requires integrating the new and old, and understanding how older buildings were assembled. A carpenter who understands these issues, is able to replicate the old, and has a passion for custom work is an essential ingredient to a successful remodeling project. Wentworth’s remodeling clients benefit from Steven’s technical skill and experience because it reduces cost on custom details, speeds the process, and makes the project fun.

A Custom Painted Floor

By Bruce Wentworth, AIA

Painting your wood floors is a wonderful way to give your home variety and create a custom look. If you keep it simple it can be a cost effective way to enhance your old wood floors. If you want a more refined, detailed look it will cost a bit more.

A recent design problem involved oak floors for a kitchen and adjacent dining room. The kitchen was being remodeled with a new 9’ wide opening to visually link the dining room and gain natural light from the south facing room. Custom mahogany cabinets, and dark gray limestone counter tops, were a dressy touch for the new kitchen. The design dilemma was how to handle the wood floor finish. The homes’ existing oak floor had a medium dark stain - but continuing the stain color into the kitchen did not provide visual contrast with the cabinets; it would have been muddy. And changing to a lighter stain would have looked odd against the existing dark oak floors. Solution: paint the wood floor. Paint provided a natural break from the existing stained oak floors, and a color compliment to the new kitchen cabinets.Of course, once paint was selected we had to decide upon the color and pattern. Without too much agony, a light gray neutral color was selected because it worked well with the gray limestone counter top and complemented the mahogany cabinets. I was fortunate to know Maxine Cohen who had experience with painted floors. I knew that painting a monolithic gray would not suffice – so with the idea of a two-tone gray floor, I prepared several drawings with subtle striated patterns.

Conceptually it is a rectilinear pin wheel; a small rectangle, in a solid gray, placed as the center of the pinwheel, around which a large rectangle and a large square are placed. The square and the rectangle are differentiated by the differing widths of their stripes.

The pattern creates a gentle visual movement on the floor and never feels dead. Maxine made three test mockups to get it just right and cleverly cut rubber squeegees with different size slots (like combs) to create the stripped patterns. It worked like a charm…but took seven days to paint. The long days of taping the pattern, painting, and letting it dry to implement the detailed design was worth it - as the evidence shows.

Preservation Cafe Comes to Cleveland Park

The Cleveland Park Historical Society (CPHS) kicked off their first-ever Preservation Café symposium at the Ardeo restaurant on the evening of April 28, 2009. www.clevelandparkdc.org

Architect, Bruce Wentworth, AIA, was the invited guest speaker at the event which hosted 52 CPHS members. The event focused on several of the residential architectural styles found in the Cleveland Park Historic District. The architectural styles chosen for discussion were: Colonial Revival 1880-1955, Queen Anne 1880-1910, Tudor 1890-1940, Bungalow 1905-1930, Art Deco 1925-1940, and Shingle Style 1880-1900. Each of the styles was illustrated with photos of houses from Cleveland Park photographed by the architect.

An Italianate Style home (circa 1872) was illustrated as the first house restored by Mr. Wentworth more than 25 years ago. Photos represented numerous architectural details; window & door hoods, clapboard, and other architectural details, restored. Mr. Wentworth recently put his survey of residential architectural styles in the DC metro area on line at www.AskTheArchitect.org allowing a wider community to research and identify their own homes period and style.

The evening’s presentation was followed by a Question and Answer period during which time Mr. Wentworth addressed questions from CPHS members about their own historic homes.