A remodeling plan for North Attleborough's 1970s homes

A 1972 median and a wide spread of ages

The census median year built for North Attleborough's roughly 12,900 homes is 1972, in a town of about 30,800 people. About one home in five predates 1940 and about one in seven was built after 2000, so the town carries old village houses, a deep middle layer of postwar and 1970s construction, and newer neighborhoods all at the same time.

A little over half of homes are single-family detached, and about 71 percent are owner-occupied. The rest are two-families, condos and apartment buildings. That spread means the same week can bring a question about the sagging floor in an old colonial and another about finishing the basement of a house built in 2005.

The town runs up to the Rhode Island line, about 15 miles west of our shop in Raynham. That makes it a straightforward run for walkthroughs and the in-person visits that keep a remodel on track.

You get a written scope, a clear point of contact and a clean site at the end of each day.

Fifty-year-old kitchens and baths

For the 1970s houses that make up the middle of the town, the kitchen and main bath are usually original or on their second round. When they come apart, the usual findings are subfloor softened around the toilet and tub, galvanized or early copper supply lines, too few circuits for a modern kitchen, and soffits hiding ductwork or, just as often, nothing at all. None of that is a reason to panic. It is the normal condition of a house that age, and pricing for it up front keeps the job from turning into a series of surprises.

A kitchen remodel in this kind of house often means moving the sink or range, adding circuits and opening the room to the next one. Each of those has a code consequence. Electrical work is done by a licensed electrician, plumbing by a licensed plumber, and anything structural is permitted and inspected under 780 CMR.

The older village houses add a different list: the pre-1978 lead paint question, possible balloon framing behind the plaster and the occasional run of knob-and-tube wiring. We plan for those on any house that predates the war. Houses that old also tend to have exterior walls that were never insulated, so opening one is the right time to bring insulation and air sealing up to the energy code that applies at permit time.

Additions and finished lower levels

Plenty of owners here would rather stay and add room than move. An addition starts below grade, with footings below frost depth, commonly about four feet in Massachusetts, set so the new structure ties into the existing house without cracking it. We study the existing foundation, the roof lines and where the new space meets the old before any drawing gets made. Attached garages from this era are a common spot for a second-floor addition, which raises whether the existing footings and garage walls can carry a room on top, and that gets checked rather than assumed.

Finished basements are the other common way to gain space. The order is moisture first, then framing, insulation and finishes, with egress worked out if the room is meant for sleeping. In the condos and townhouses that make up part of the town's housing, lower-level and kitchen work also needs the association's sign-off on work hours and access.

Through all of it you deal with Steve and hear how things are going without asking. He spent years working for contractors whose communication fell apart, and running a job that way is exactly what he set out not to do. You get a written scope, a clear point of contact and a clean site at the end of each day.