Kitchen remodeling in Townsend, MA

The houses this is written for

The stock here is antique farmhouses and capes, nineteenth-century village housing around the centres, and newer single-family homes on rural lots.

Low ceilings, small windows and where the space comes from

The rear ell on an antique Townsend house was built as a working room, so the ceiling is low and the windows are small and high. There are three ways to gain space: raise the ceiling into the attic above, borrow the adjacent pantry or shed room, or enlarge the windows. Each one touches structure, so we look at the framing above and beside the kitchen first.

Raising the ceiling means checking what the ell attic carries and whether the collar ties can move. Borrowing the next room means finding out if the partition carries the floor above. Larger windows mean new headers in a wall that may have no proper studs. None of this is unusual, but it has to be assessed with the plaster off, not guessed.

Sills, floor structure and the ell foundation

Kitchen ells sit on the shallowest foundation on the house, often fieldstone or a later block underpinning. Sills rot where the grade meets the wall, and the floor joists near the outside walls follow. In a house this old and this far out, both have usually been patched before, sometimes well and sometimes with whatever the barn had on hand.

We open the floor at the outside walls first. If the sill is gone, we replace it in sections with the wall shored. If the joists are undersized or spliced, we sister or replace them and level the floor so the cabinets sit flat. Getting this right is what lets a new stone counter go in level and stay uncracked.

Well water, septic and the disposal you should not install

Most of Townsend is on well and septic, and both shape the kitchen. Well pressure decides whether a pot filler or a high-flow faucet is worth buying, so we test flow and check the pressure tank before we specify. Water with iron or hardness wants treatment before it reaches a dishwasher, or the machine will scale up and the glassware will stain.

A garbage disposal does not belong on a Title 5 system. Ground food adds solids the tank has to settle and the leach field cannot absorb, and it shortens the life of both. We leave it out and fit a deep sink with a strainer basket instead. Adding a dishwasher where none existed is checked against the septic system first.

Drains, venting and the electrical panel

Kitchen drains in a farmhouse often run to the septic through a shallow trench that freezes, or through a cellar with no headroom. We trace the route and correct it while the floor is open. Range hoods vent outside through an exterior wall, which is easy in an ell with three outside walls, and the duct is kept short so a low ceiling does not need a soffit.

Electrical service in these houses has been extended piecemeal for decades. The panel may be adequate, the wiring behind the kitchen walls usually is not. A remodel is the time to run new circuits for the range, dishwasher, counters and lighting, and to sort out any knob-and-tube still live in the ell. We price that work as its own line.

Sequence, staging and what to expect this far out

We assess first, with the floor and a section of wall opened, and we tell you which parts of the estimate are firm and which stay provisional until demolition. Then design and scope, demolition, sills and framing, rough plumbing and electrical, the inspection, then drywall or plaster repair, cabinets, counters and paint. Antique houses can hold materials that need testing before demolition, so that is done up front.

Townsend is a long way from the suppliers, so we do not run out for a missing part. Material is ordered complete and staged on site before each phase, and the rural lots give plenty of room to do that. The village houses near the centres are tighter, so there we stage in the yard and keep the road clear. Either way you keep a working sink.

Questions we get asked about Townsend