Dunstable homes, updated for the long stay

A town of large, owner-occupied houses

Census figures count about 3,400 people in Dunstable and roughly 1,150 homes on more than sixteen square miles of land. Almost every home, around 97 in 100, is a single-family detached house, and nearly as many are owner-occupied. The median home was built in 1985, and about one in six went up since 2000.

That is a different starting point from an older town. The framing in most Dunstable houses was built to standards that are still recognizable today, and the problems are rarely structural. What wears out is the finish layer. Kitchens with oak cabinets and laminate counters from the house's first years. Primary baths with a corner tub and a small shower that leaks at the door. Windows and trim that never quite fit together. Thirty or forty years in, cabinet boxes have swelled near the sink, tub surrounds have let water behind them, and the original flooring is worn through at every doorway.

There is also a smaller group of older houses, about one in thirteen built before 1940. Those call for a different approach: plaster, older framing, possible lead paint and wiring that a licensed electrician needs to see.

Plumbing is done by a licensed plumber, and the work is inspected through the building department.

Kitchens, primary baths and the outdoor side

In a 1980s or 1990s colonial, a kitchen remodel often means removing a peninsula or a half wall, rethinking where the sink and range sit, and replacing cabinets and counters that have taken thirty years of use. Walls between the kitchen and family room may or may not be load-bearing. We find out first, and if they carry weight, the plan includes the beam and the permit.

A primary bath in a house of this age usually comes down to the studs. That gives us the chance to fix the subfloor under the old tub, build a properly waterproofed shower, and correct ventilation that was undersized from the start. Plumbing is done by a licensed plumber, and the work is inspected through the building department.

Decks from that era are often at the end of their life, with ledger connections and footings that fall short of current practice. A new deck gets footings below frost depth, commonly about four feet in Massachusetts, and a ledger fastened properly to the house. Roofs installed when the house was built have often reached replacement age too, and that is work we do as well.

The far corner of our range

At about 56 miles northwest of Raynham, Dunstable sits near the New Hampshire line and toward the edge of the area we cover. We take that seriously in scheduling. Materials are ordered and staged before the crew arrives, deliveries are set for days when someone will be on site, and the schedule is built so a day of work is a full day of work.

If the house is on a septic system and the plan adds a bedroom, Massachusetts Title 5 rules bring a review of design flow, and that belongs at the start of the conversation. The same goes for the stretch energy code where a town has adopted it, since new insulation and air sealing follow it. On larger rural lots, we also plan where the dumpster and deliveries go so the lawn and driveway are not torn up by the end of the job.

Steve has twenty years in the trade and six running Modern Remodeling. Owners in a house like this usually plan to stay a long time, so they want the work done once and done properly. That means a written scope, regular updates, a clean site every day and a builder who tells you plainly what he found.