General Contactor Builders Group - Palmdale, California

Charley De La Torre

We trusted Ivan and his team once before with a garage remodel, and were thrilled with the results, so this time we decided to do a bigger project: master bedroom/bath remodel. Charlie was our consultant on this project, also. The main thing I wanted to do was completely gut and redo the bathroom. The house came with a fairly typical "fiberglass pan with wall tile" shower that I never particularly liked. The pictures tell the whole story about what I ended up with, and I absolutely love it. I wanted to make the shower wider, but the toilet could not be moved, so Timmer helped us figure out the measurements to take the most advantage of the limited space. A sliding pocket door to replace the swing door would maximize the useful area. The wall structure made it necessary to actually shift the doorway over about 8". All of this involves gutting the bathroom down to the house frame. This bathroom is on the second floor, and as this old house is continuously shifting, it's vital that the shower not leak. The bottom of the shower was hot mopped (hot tar) instead of using the more conventional PVC pan. Over time, a pan can flex and crack. Hot mopped floors will not leak, even if the house frame shifts beneath it. Ivan brought in a master tiler, EJ, to tile the shower, and his work is satisfyingly precise and symmetrical. Everything is fitted perfectly, and custom cut/shaped as needed. The plumber, Nacho , is equally talented, and paid a lot of attention to little details to make the setup work best. The tile design in the shower makes it crucial that the shower fixture is perfectly centered in the design, and that was accomplished with the cooperation and expertise of everyone involved. The sink was custom fabricated out of a big slab of engineered quartz. It looks like white marble, but is much less expensive, more durable, and lower maintenance than real marble. Timer and I worked with the fabricator to design a square sink, and the fabricator (also a gifted artist) put the pieces together in a way that makes the gray veins in the quartz line up in an aesthetically pleasing manner. As for the bedroom itself, we had the popcorn ceiling removed. That required asbestos abatement, which Ivan handled with complete competence (they are licensed in asbestos abatement). We wanted a "rigid core vinyl" floor (the new hotness in laminate flooring) to replace the carpet. It was discovered that the floor was not flat, and you can't install a laminate floor on an irregular surface. The entire floor had to be torn up and sistered to make it level. This was done, although I was warned that the house would likely continue to shift and settle over time. There's no way to prevent this. Ah well, can't be helped. But we love the new laminate floor. It looks just like real wood, but is fully waterproof and highly scratch resistant. I could go on a lot longer about the details of this job. But suffice to say that we are 100% satisfied with the work and will be returning to Ivan in the future for any other remodeling projects we have.