Building in La Jolla
La Jolla homes sit close enough to the water that the ocean shapes almost every material decision. Salt in the air is hard on metal — fasteners, flashing, hardware, window and door furniture — and the damage happens quietly, behind finishes, long before anything looks wrong.
On exterior work here we specify hardware for the environment rather than the catalogue default, and we pay particular attention to how water is directed away from walls. On decks and outdoor structures, connectors and fixings matter as much as the boards you can see.
The housing stock is unusually varied. Mid-century homes with original layouts, older cottages that have been added to more than once, and contemporary properties with large glazed openings all sit within a few blocks of each other. Older La Jolla homes frequently have walls that are neither square nor plumb, which is why cabinetry and tile here need scribing and careful setting out rather than being dropped into place.
Views drive a lot of what we are asked to do — opening up a kitchen toward the water, replacing a picket railing with cable or glass so a deck stops chopping the view into slices, or reworking a bathroom around a window that has to stay.
