We took the roof off a Denver bungalow and built a second storey on it.
A full pop-top on the main house, a two-bedroom ADU above a new detached garage, and a whole-home remodel behind the original brick — photographed from the first day of demolition through to the finished street elevation.
The brick stayed. Everything above it is new.
The house was a single-storey Denver brick bungalow — solid, well built and completely out of room. Rather than move, the owners went up. The roof came off, the original brick ground floor stayed exactly where it was, and a full second storey was framed on top of it. The brick that did have to come down was salvaged and stacked on site instead of going into a skip.
The second half of the job was at the back of the lot. The old carport came out, a new two-car garage went in on the alley, and a two-bedroom accessory dwelling unit was built above it — its own kitchen, its own bathroom and its own services trenched across the yard. That is a second building on the same site, permitted and inspected as one, and it is the reason the finished property does something the original never could.
Behind the brick, the main house went back to the studs: new kitchen, new primary bathroom, a complete electrical replacement, a new front porch, a replacement section of public sidewalk and a rear patio. Every photograph on this page is ours, taken by our own people as the work happened, in the order it happened. None of it is staged and none of it is stock.
Same house. Same brick. Twice the home.
Thirteen frames, in the order they happened.
Demolition in August 2019 through to the finished patio in May 2020 — foundations, the roof coming off, the second storey going up, a Denver winter, the trenching that made the ADU a real dwelling, and the waterproofing behind the tile that nobody photographs.
What the job actually involved.
- Full second-storey pop-top on the existing brick bungalow, with the original ground-floor brick left in place and built over.
- Original brick salvaged and stacked on site during demolition rather than skipped.
- New detached two-car garage on the alley with a two-bedroom accessory dwelling unit above it.
- Separate services trenched across the rear yard to serve the ADU as an independent dwelling.
- Main house taken back to the studs — new kitchen, new primary bathroom and a complete electrical replacement.
- New front porch, porch railing and concrete steps, plus a replacement section of public sidewalk.
- Rear paver patio, cedar fencing and full site restoration.
- Permitted through the City and County of Denver and inspected at every stage, from footings to final.
Related: home additions, ADUs over a garage and full interior renovations.
Questions this project raises.
Can you build a second storey on a brick house?
On this one, yes — but that is a structural question answered by the house, not by the plan. What carries a new floor and roof is the existing foundation, the walls beneath it and the load path down through the middle of the building. On this project the original ground-floor brick stayed exactly where it was and the new storey was framed above it. The honest sequence is that an engineer looks at what is already there before anyone draws a second floor, and sometimes the answer is that the existing structure will not carry one economically.
How long does a pop-top and ADU project like this actually take?
Longer than most people expect, and most of the extra time is not construction. On this project the contract was signed in September 2018 and the building permit was issued in July 2019 — roughly ten months in design, engineering and permit review before anything was demolished. Construction ran from August 2019 through the middle of 2020, with final site work finishing after that. If a contractor quotes you a pop-top and an ADU on a short timeline, ask them what they are assuming about plan review.
Do we have to move out?
For a job at this scope, yes. The roof comes off the house and the interior goes back to the studs — there is no phase of that work you can live through safely. Smaller projects can often be staged so a family stays put; this one could not. We will tell you which of the two your project is at the estimate stage, because it changes your budget more than most finish selections do.
Is an ADU worth building in Denver?
It depends entirely on your lot, your zone district and what you want the unit to do — rental income, family housing, or resale value. Denver’s rules around accessory dwelling units have changed since this project was permitted, so anything we told you from memory would be out of date. What this project shows is the physical side: a detached ADU is a small building with its own foundation, its own services and its own inspections, and it should be budgeted as one. We will confirm the current requirements with the department that would review your permit before you commit to a design.
Bring us the house you cannot leave.
We will look at what your foundation and walls can actually carry, what your lot allows and what Denver will review — then tell you honestly whether going up is the right answer for your house. It starts with a short phone consult, not a sales visit.
Prefer to talk now? Call (720) 637-2060
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