Old House Restoration Specialists — Repair, Remodel & Preserve
We restore and modernize historic homes with craftsmanship that honors original materials, improves safety and comfort, and respects local preservation standards, delivering tailored plans, transparent timelines, and durable results, starting with a free on-site consultation to understand your goals, budget, and the home’s unique story and condition.
About Our Preservation Practice
We are craftspeople, designers, and project managers dedicated to extending the life of historic homes through careful investigation, traditional methods, and practical modernization, treating every house as a living document, protecting its story while upgrading safety, comfort, and usability with measured, reversible interventions.
Heritage Assessment & Planning
A comprehensive, preservation-first planning process identifies historic significance, documents existing conditions, and sequences work into practical phases that align with your budget, schedule, and regulatory requirements while protecting character-defining features and ensuring every intervention is compatible, reversible where possible, and clearly justified by evidence.
Historic Significance Study
Our team researches period architecture, builder methods, archival records, and original finishes to determine which elements are character-defining, guiding design choices that elevate authenticity, reduce risk of inappropriate replacements, and help qualify your project for approvals, tax incentives, or future landmark considerations where applicable.
Condition Documentation & Mapping
We create photo-logged floor plans and elevation maps highlighting structural cracks, moisture pathways, material failures, and prior alterations, so you receive an illustrated baseline of what exists today, what is failing, and where targeted interventions will stabilize the house while minimizing unnecessary removal of historic fabric.
Phased Preservation Roadmap
A prioritized, phased roadmap sequences urgent stabilization, weatherproofing, and code upgrades before aesthetic work, balancing seasonal constraints, funding realities, and construction logistics to avoid rework, protect accessible historical fabric, and keep the home safely habitable whenever possible throughout the restoration process.
Structural Stabilization & Foundation Repair
We diagnose settlement, rot, and load path failures, then design minimally invasive reinforcement strategies that respect original materials, whether addressing piers, sills, joists, or masonry foundations, delivering safer floors and straighter walls without erasing the handcrafted character that makes your old house truly irreplaceable.
Historic Exterior Preservation
We conserve siding, windows, and decorative trim with repair-before-replace methods, matching profiles and species, integrating breathable finishes, and upgrading weather resistance discreetly, so your façade looks period-correct, sheds water properly, and stands up to weather without sacrificing irreplaceable historic material or craftsmanship.
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We selectively remove failed boards, install Dutchman patches using in-kind wood species, and address underlying moisture intrusions before applying compatible primers and paints, ensuring a cohesive, historically accurate envelope that resists rot and maintains authentic texture, shadow lines, and time-earned character.
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Original sash windows are carefully removed, stripped, repaired with epoxy consolidants where appropriate, reglazed with true putty, balanced with tuned weights, and weatherstripped to reduce drafts, preserving old growth wood and wavy glass while achieving modern comfort without resorting to character-damaging replacements.
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We replicate missing profiles from surviving fragments, stabilize soffits and rafter tails, and integrate drip edges and flashing that disappear visually, protecting vulnerable junctions while keeping the crisp shadow lines and ornamentation that define your architectural style and curb appeal.
Interior Restoration
From plaster to millwork and floors, we restore interior finishes using period-appropriate materials and techniques, seamlessly blending new work with old, respecting patina where desired, and preparing spaces for sensitive upgrades that improve daily living without erasing historic character or craftsmanship.
Plaster Conservation & Lime Skim Coats
We secure loose keys, bridge cracks with mesh supporting strips, and skim with lime-rich plaster to maintain breathability and surface depth, delivering smooth, resilient walls that outperform gypsum in historic contexts while preserving original textures and decorative details where they matter most.
Millwork Matching & Joinery
Our shop profiles knives to match casing, baseboards, and crown, then fabricates components in compatible species, using traditional joinery so repairs integrate invisibly, ensuring doors, trims, and built-ins read as original while meeting today’s functional needs and robustness expectations.
Floorboard Repair, Sanding & Finishes
We weave in reclaimed boards, secure squeaks from below, and refinish with low-VOC oils or penetrating hardwax systems that showcase grain without plastic shine, yielding durable, repairable floors that feel authentic underfoot and age gracefully with lived-in warmth.
Kitchen Layouts with Vintage Character
We balance work triangle efficiency with furniture-style cabinets, inset doors, authentic hardware, and durable counters that suit period styles, hiding modern appliances and ventilation to keep sightlines uncluttered while delivering serviceable, easy-to-clean, and family-friendly functionality.
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Baths with Classic Fixtures
Using cast-iron tubs, pedestal sinks, hex tile, and timeless color palettes, we design baths that feel original while integrating waterproofing, quiet ventilation, and efficient plumbing, achieving comfort and hygiene without compromising the elegance of traditional proportions and materials.
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Discreet Storage and Built-ins
We create built-ins that follow historic trim logic, paneling, and reveals, adding generous storage behind finely detailed doors and drawers, so clutter disappears and rooms retain their authentic rhythm, improved functionality, and respectful presence.
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Mechanical Systems Upgrades
We modernize electrical, HVAC, and plumbing with minimal disruption to historic fabric, threading new services through discreet chases and voids, achieving comfort, safety, and efficiency while keeping original finishes, doors, and casings intact wherever conservation allows.
Learn MoreSpecialist Restoration Services
Our core services combine rigorous assessment, skilled conservation, and design-build delivery, ensuring each project meets preservation standards, budget targets, and daily living needs, with clear communication, documented decisions, and meticulous site protection that honors your home and timeline from first visit through final walkthrough.
Comprehensive Historic Home Condition Survey
A multi-hour on-site investigation with moisture readings, structural observations, and materials analysis, followed by a written report with photos, prioritized repairs, and risk assessment, giving you a dependable roadmap for safe, staged, preservation-first work that anticipates hidden conditions and seasonal constraints.
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Exterior Envelope Restoration Package
A coordinated scope that rehabilitates windows, repoints masonry or repairs siding, adds discreet flashing, and refinishes with breathable coatings, stopping leaks, reducing drafts, and preserving original fabric while lifting curb appeal with authentic profiles and period-correct details that endure weather and time.
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Period-Accurate Kitchen & Bath Design-Build
Concept-to-completion remodeling that blends era-appropriate cabinetry, tile, and fixtures with modern waterproofing, efficient ventilation, and discreet utilities, delivering daily comfort and lasting durability while preserving doorways, trims, and sightlines that unify the house’s historic character across rooms.
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Materials & Methods
We specify breathable, compatible materials and traditional techniques—lime mortars, casein paints, hide glue, and reversible consolidants—ensuring assemblies manage moisture correctly, remain serviceable, and age gracefully with authentic appearance and performance.
Lime Mortar, Putty, and Breathable Paints
We replace impermeable coatings with vapor-open systems, allowing assemblies to dry seasonally, reducing mold risk and freeze-thaw damage while presenting finishes that visually align with historic sheen, texture, and color depth for genuine authenticity.
Timber Species Selection & Conservation
We match grain and density using compatible species, stabilize checks with reversible adhesives, and treat localized decay conservatively, preserving as much old growth as possible while ensuring structural integrity and a consistent visual narrative across rooms and elevations.
Stone Repair and Dutchman Stitching
We insert carefully tooled stone patches keyed into sound substrate, color-match using mineral pigments, and finish with limewash where appropriate, delivering durable, nearly invisible repairs that respect the masonry’s breathability and original craftsmanship.
Preservation Compliance & Grants
We align scope with preservation standards, prepare drawings and documentation for boards and commissions, and help pursue tax credits or grants, translating regulatory language into clear steps that protect your project’s eligibility while keeping construction moving smoothly.
Secretary of the Interior’s Standards Alignment
We review proposed changes against the Standards, ensuring interventions are differentiated yet compatible, reversible when possible, and respectful of historic character, strengthening approval prospects and long-term stewardship value for your property.
Local Landmarks Approvals & Permits
We compile submittals with measured drawings, material cut sheets, and historic evidence, represent you at hearings, and coordinate with inspectors, reducing delays and clarifying expectations so construction can proceed with confidence and documented compliance.
Tax Credits and Grant Application Support
We identify funding opportunities, prepare narratives that demonstrate significance and appropriate scope, and supply cost breakdowns tied to eligible work categories, improving award chances and financial feasibility for comprehensive preservation efforts.
Detailed Schedules & Milestones
We build critical path schedules that integrate lead times for custom millwork, windows, and conservation materials, aligning client approvals with procurement and on-site work, ensuring each phase flows efficiently and transparently from start to finish.
Transparent Change Management
When hidden conditions arise, we issue clear change options with photos, pricing, and timeline impacts, allowing informed decisions that keep preservation priorities front and center while controlling budget and protecting essential character-defining features.
Site Protection and Neighbor Communication
We implement dust control, floor protection, and vibration monitoring, and coordinate deliveries to respect neighbors and city regulations, keeping your home safe, clean, and compliant while minimizing disruption throughout construction.
Portfolio & Case Studies
Explore diverse restorations—Victorians, Craftsman bungalows, and brick rowhouses—showing before-and-after transformations, technical strategies, and client outcomes that prove our commitment to craft, practicality, and historically sensitive problem-solving.
Victorian Porch Resurrection
We rebuilt a failing porch with salvaged heart pine, turned newel replicas, and concealed flashing, correcting slope, restoring balustrade rhythm, and extending service life while preserving the home’s theatrical street presence and original charm.
Craftsman Bungalow Revival
We corrected sagging floors, revitalized built-ins, and restored divided-lite windows with energy-conscious weatherstripping, delivering a cozy, efficient interior that feels authentically period while performing to modern comfort expectations year-round.
Brick Rowhouse Envelope Rescue
We removed hard cement mortar, repointed with lime, stabilized lintels, and rehabilitated sash, dramatically reducing moisture infiltration and improving thermal comfort, all while maintaining the streetscape’s consistent historic character and texture.
Sustainability & Energy Efficiency
We improve comfort and efficiency without harming historic fabric, using vapor-open assemblies, careful air sealing, and discreet mechanicals so the house breathes, dries, and performs well through seasonal shifts, preserving both character and durability.
Free On-Site Consultation & Next Steps
Book a no-cost visit where we listen carefully, inspect methodically, and outline options, then receive a transparent proposal with scope, schedule, and budget ranges, helping you move forward confidently with preservation-first priorities.
Contact usWhat to Expect During the Visit
We start with your goals and concerns, then tour the property, taking notes and photographs, probing discreetly where needed, discussing regulatory context, and identifying quick wins and critical risks to inform a practical, phased approach.
Receiving Your Tailored Proposal
Within days, you get a written proposal with annotated photos, recommended methods, allowances, and a draft timeline, so you can see exactly how decisions affect cost, preservation outcomes, and day-to-day living during construction.
Booking and Pre-Construction Planning
We finalize selections, order long-lead items, secure permits, and schedule trades, while setting up site protection plans and communication channels, ensuring a calm, organized start that respects your home, neighbors, and daily routine.
