Victorian Sunroom Addition – Full Build in Cargill, Brockton

We recently broke ground on a sunroom addition for a heritage Victorian home in Cargill, part of Brockton, Ontario—just north of Walkerton and south of Port Elgin. JCB & SONS was hired as the general contractor to oversee the entire project, from excavation and foundation to framing and finish. The new sunroom is designed to blend seamlessly with the architecture of the original home while providing a bright, year-round space for the homeowners.

This is a full-scope renovation and new build, combining structural carpentry, foundation work, and careful detailing around an existing heritage structure. It’s the kind of addition that requires experience, precision, and respect for both the old and the new—hallmarks of the sunroom and addition work we deliver across Hanover, Brockton, and the surrounding Grey-Bruce region.

Excavating the material from the foundation hole and loading to be removed from the construction site.

The Miller Group provided the cement for our project. These are our freshly poured concrete footings with a keyway cut in to receive the new foundation walls for this addition.

The walls are freshly poured and have been covered with insulated tarps to protect from the temperature drops. Chemicals have been added to the cement mix to make it generate heat as well as the cement was made with hot water because of the time of year to help it cure.

The boys (Gabriel Bender and Jude Bender) took time from school to come be a part of pouring this foundation. This gets them a hands on experience at a young age and provides opportunity for the next generation to take on and experience the work organically and develop skills naturally. Work ethic is developed and skills are learned.

Farlow’s Home Hardware provided the Home Builder fibrated asphalt foundation coating to waterproof the new crawlspace.

After the foundation coating has cured we installed Delta MS foundation wrap from Farlow’s Home Hardware to provide drainage to the new crawlspace. It is wrapped down to the weeping tile which is covered in drainage stone and filter cloth before material that was removed during excavating is place back around the foundation. The weeping tile ties into a sump pail in the new crawlspace.

The foundation is backfilled and ready for the sill plates to be installed on the anchor bolts that were placed in the concrete to secure the floor system to the foundation walls.

Welbeck Sawmill delivered our floor system and we have installed the new Pressure Treated sill plates on sill gasket and Typar house wrap. This is holding the new 2” x 12” floor joists @ 12” on centre with two runs of solid blocking to ensure a floor with very little deflection. This all gets covered in a 3/4” tounge & groove plywood sub-floor which is glued and screwed.

Solid blocking ensures all the joists stay in their place, can’t twist and makes everything binds together and shares the load on the floor joists.

Would also like to give a big thank you to Jamie Kuhl of ArchLines for all the design work on this project and with the permit process to make this all happen for our customer.

After the sub-floor was completed we covered the entire floor with insulated tarps to ensure the cold stays out of the foundation until the walls are up and everything is closed in.

Covered Porch Construction – Townsend Lake Cottage Build

We were hired to build a new covered porch on this cottage near Townsend Lake, just outside Markdale and south of Owen Sound. The porch now connects the front entrance of the cottage to the rear deck with a fully framed, weather-protected walkway—perfect for lakefront living. As the builder, JCB & SONS handled all framing and foundation prep to ensure a long-lasting structure on challenging cottage terrain.

The new pier footings were built using BF20 Bigfoot bases with 10” Quick-Tubes, set 4 feet below grade for frost protection. Each pier was reinforced with 15mm rebar and filled with concrete, then topped with carport saddles to securely anchor the post bases. This project reflects our specialty in deck and porch building—strong structural carpentry that blends into natural cottage settings across West Grey and Grey Highlands.

Deck building is a form of trim carpentry so all corners are mitered even on the framing.

Galvanized joist hanger brackets were used with galvanized joist hanger nails to get flush beams keeping the framing off of the ground even at the lowest end.

Deck flashing was used on the top of all the framing to ensure the top of the framing will not rot.

Kreg Jigs hidden deck fastner system was used to hide all of the screws used to fasten the decking.

All of the roof framing stayed exposed so the rafters and strapping were all rounded over and a coat of Sikkens Stain was used to weather proof it prior to installing.

Steel roofing was used on the 2 ends and polycarbonate x-ligh was used to keep the porch roof nice and bright.  Strapping was ran on 12" centres to give lots of support to the x-light.

The wooden structural beam was clad in pine barn board and finished with a coat of Sikkens Cedar Stain.

We installed new vented soffit on the ends to tie neatly into the home and clad all the fascia boards in aluminum fascia we custom bent on site.

We installed 2"x4" rails with a 2"x6" handrail which received a nice big round over to create the railings for the porch.  The homeowner has plans for his own spindles and is looking after that himself.

Exterior Renovation – Historic Building in Durham, Ontario

JCB & SONS completed a full exterior renovation of this historic triple-brick carriage house on Garafraxa Street in Durham, Ontario. Once neglected and structurally weathered, the building was restored for new commercial use under the direction of an investor who hired us to modernize and secure the envelope without losing its heritage feel.

We installed vertical steel siding across the exterior and finished the front façade with Fusion Stone to enhance both curb appeal and durability. This project is one of many we’ve completed across West Grey, Hanover, and Markdale—where we specialize in exterior renovations, licensed carpentry, and general contracting for commercial and residential clients alike.

South Side of the Building

North West Corner of the building