By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC. WA Contractor License #FIRMRRL783PU. Serving Issaquah, Sammamish, Newcastle, Renton, Kent, Covington, and Maple Valley, WA. Start with the thing half the internet has wrong. The energy code in force for your Issaquah remodel right now is the 2021 Washington State Energy Code, Residential, Second Edition, effective … Washington’s Energy Code and Your Issaquah Remodel: Insulation, Ventilation, and What Inspectors Check
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC. WA Contractor License #FIRMRRL783PU. Serving Issaquah, Sammamish, Newcastle, Renton, Kent, Covington, and Maple Valley, WA. Here is the short version, because most people who call us about this are worried about the wrong thing. If your Squak Mountain remodel stays inside the existing walls, Issaquah’s critical … Issaquah Critical Areas and Steep-Slope Rules: What They Mean for a Squak Mountain Remodel
Four things turn up in almost every 1970s split-level bathroom we open in Kent: asbestos under the floor, galvanized supply lines, aluminum branch wiring, and one overloaded wet wall doing the work of three. None of them stop a bathroom remodel. All four cost less to plan for than to discover on demo day. Why … Bathrooms in Kent’s 1970s Split-Levels: The Four Problems We Find Every Time
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC | LIC #: FIRMRRL783PU | Serving Issaquah, Sammamish, Newcastle, Renton, Kent, Covington, Hobart, and Maple Valley, WA We put in the same shower enclosures all over Issaquah. Same glass, same hardware, same guy installing it. Come back two years later and half of them look like … Issaquah Water and Your New Shower Glass: What Local Mineral Content Does to a Finished Bathroom
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC | LIC #: FIRMRRL783PU | Serving Issaquah, Sammamish, Newcastle, Renton, Kent, Covington, Hobart, and Maple Valley, WA The first question I ask on a Mirrormont bathroom job has nothing to do with tile. It is whether the house is on septic, and if it is, whether … Squak Mountain and Mirrormont Bathroom Remodels: Septic Capacity, Steep Driveways, and What Changes
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC | WA Contractor License #FIRMRRL783PU | Published August 6, 2026 | Based at 26424 233rd Ave SE, Maple Valley, WA 98038 Short version, because most people reading this are trying to settle an argument with a spouse or a contractor: in Maple Valley you need a … Maple Valley remodel permits: what needs one, what doesn’t, and how long the city actually takes
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC. Washington Contractor License #FIRMRRL783PU. Serving Kent, Maple Valley, Covington, Renton, Black Diamond, Ravensdale, Hobart, Issaquah, Enumclaw, Auburn, and Federal Way, WA. Published August 2, 2026. A curbless shower is the most requested thing in our bathroom work right now, and it is also the one request … Curbless Showers in Kent Homes: When the Floor Joists Say No
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC. Washington Contractor License #FIRMRRL783PU. Serving Kent, Maple Valley, Covington, Renton, Black Diamond, Ravensdale, Hobart, Issaquah, Enumclaw, Auburn, and Federal Way, WA. Published August 2, 2026. Every November I get the same call from somewhere on the East Hill. The mirror won’t clear. There’s black spotting in … Bathroom Ventilation in Kent’s Climate: The Fan Sizing We Use and Why 50 CFM Isn’t Enough
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC | LIC #: FIRMRRL783PU | Serving Issaquah, Sammamish, Newcastle, Renton, Kent, Covington, and Maple Valley, WA Putting heat under the tile in an Issaquah bathroom usually adds somewhere between $1,200 and $2,600 to the job, and runs about $6 to $12 a month across a Puget … Heated Tile Floors in Issaquah Bathrooms: Cost, Comfort, and Whether It’s Worth It
By Vasile Teterea, Owner and CEO, Firm Remodeling LLC. WA Contractor License #FIRMRRL783PU. Published July 20, 2026. A few times a year I get the same phone call. Someone in Kent just listed their house, the appraiser walked the basement, and the “4-bedroom” they’ve been paying taxes on came back as a 3-bedroom. Or they’re … Can You Legally Call a Basement Room a Bedroom in Kent? What the Permit Office Checks
