Concord homes from every era, handled with care

A town with old houses and new ones side by side

Census figures count about 18,000 people in Concord and close to 6,900 homes on roughly 24 square miles of land, with more than a square mile of water besides. The median home dates to 1967, but that median hides a wide spread. Roughly one home in five predates 1940, and roughly one in five has gone up since 2000.

Two thirds of the homes are single-family detached houses, and about three quarters are owner-occupied. So the typical call is from an owner who plans to stay, wants the work done properly and expects to understand what is happening. That holds for both kinds of house; the work itself is what differs. It is also a town where an older house and a new one can sit a short walk apart, and the right approach to one would be wrong for the other.

The older houses carry plaster, timber or balloon framing, uneven floors and generations of earlier repairs. The newer ones are built to modern framing standards but often finished with builder-grade kitchens and baths the owners have outgrown. Midcentury houses fall in between, with their own wiring, insulation and layout questions.

When a wall has to come down, we tell you what it carries and how the load will be handled before anyone starts.

Working on an older house without erasing it

On a house built before 1940, the first job is finding out what is there. We look at the framing in the basement and attic, how the floors are supported, and what earlier owners changed. Plaster can often be repaired rather than replaced, and trim can be matched. When a wall has to come down, we tell you what it carries and how the load will be handled before anyone starts. Original windows, doors and floors are worth assessing before anyone assumes they have to go, because a good repair can last longer than a cheap replacement.

Any house built before 1978 may have lead paint, so demolition follows EPA lead-safe practices. Wiring found during demolition, including knob-and-tube in older homes, is evaluated by a licensed electrician. If your house sits in a local historic district, the commission reviews exterior changes such as windows, siding, porches and additions, and that review belongs in the schedule from the start.

Older foundations, including fieldstone, deserve a careful look before an addition ties into them. New footings go below frost depth, commonly about four feet, and the joint between old and new is detailed so the two parts do not pull apart at the seam over the winters.

Updating newer homes and running the job well

For houses built since 2000, the work is usually about finish and fit: a kitchen redesigned around how the family actually cooks, a primary bath with a tiled shower in place of a fiberglass unit, a basement finished into usable rooms, a deck replaced before the framing underneath gives out. The structure is rarely the issue, which lets the planning focus on details. Those houses also tend to have larger kitchens and baths to begin with, so the project is often about using the space better rather than finding more of it.

Concord sits about 40 miles northwest of our Raynham base. Permits go through the building department under 780 CMR, inspections follow the work, and where the stretch energy code has been adopted, insulation and air sealing follow it. Electrical and plumbing are done by licensed trades.

Steve has spent twenty years in the trade and six running his own company. The way he runs a job is simple: you know who to call, changes are written and priced before they happen, and the site is left clean every day. If something is not right, it gets fixed before his name goes on it.