Kitchen remodeling in Ayer, MA

The houses this is written for

The stock here is dense late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century housing near the centre and the rail line, including two- and three-family properties, with post-war and newer single-family construction further out.

Narrow kitchens with the sink on the outside wall

The typical centre-of-town Ayer kitchen is long and narrow. The sink sits under a window on the exterior wall, the stove is on the opposite side, and a door at each end turns the room into a hallway. In the two- and three-family houses the kitchen is at the back of each unit, stacked over the one below, with one window that looks at the neighbour's siding.

So the useful moves are not about more cabinets. They are about getting light deeper into the room, closing a redundant doorway so there is a wall to put counter against, and widening the opening to the dining room so the kitchen stops being a corridor. A wider window over the sink, where the exterior wall allows it, does more for the room than any finish.

Opening a wall in a two-family

In a multi-family house the wall between kitchen and dining room is frequently carrying the floor of the unit above, and in a three-decker the load stacks all the way up. We check what is above before deciding on a header, and we look at where the posts will land, because a header is only as good as what is under it three floors down.

The plumbing stack in these houses usually runs in the wall behind the sinks, with every unit tied into it. Moving a kitchen sink off that wall means a new drain run to the stack and a vent, and in a rented unit it means coordinating around a tenant's schedule. Municipal sewer through the centre means capacity is not a concern, which simplifies things.

Code that comes with a multi-family kitchen

A kitchen in a two- or three-family property carries requirements a single-family job does not. Fire separation between units, egress from the unit, and interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are all in play once walls are open. We put them in the scope from the start, because they are part of the job, not something to discover at inspection.

The panel situation is also different. Multi-family houses often have a bank of meters in the basement with a small panel per unit, and those panels are frequently full. A modern kitchen adds a range circuit, a dishwasher, a microwave, a fridge and counter circuits. We count the spaces in that unit's panel at the first visit, and price the upgrade if it is needed.

Venting, water and the post-war streets

The range hood is vented outside through an exterior wall with rigid duct and a damper. In a narrow centre kitchen the stove is often on an interior wall, so we either move it to the exterior wall or plan a short duct run through a soffit to get there. A hood that just recirculates is not worth fitting in a small kitchen that cooks every day.

Ayer's developed centre is on municipal water and sewer, so pressure and treatment are rarely a topic and a disposal is fine. Further out, the post-war single-family houses have closed galley or L-shaped kitchens off the living room, and the job there is the familiar one: take down the wall, size a header for the span, and open the room up.

Getting materials in and waste out

This is the part of an Ayer job that is different from the towns around it. Centre houses sit close together, side access is limited or non-existent, and on-street parking is tight. There is often nowhere obvious for a dumpster. So we settle where waste goes, where the cabinet delivery lands and when the truck can be on the street before the job starts.

Our sequence is written scope, demolition, structural and code work, rough plumbing and electrical, inspection, then insulation, drywall, cabinets, counters, tile, trim and paint. In an occupied multi-family, we also plan around the other units, keeping the common stair clear, giving tenants proper notice of shutoffs, and keeping the water off for as short a window as we can manage.

Questions we get asked about Ayer