Building for Cohasset's salt air and shoreline

A coastal town with more water than land

Census figures show Cohasset with just under 10 square miles of land and more than 21 square miles of water. About 8,300 people live in roughly 3,300 homes. Around 80 percent of those homes are single-family detached and about 80 percent are owner-occupied, both among the highest shares in Norfolk County.

The median home dates to 1960, but the stock is split, and a single street can hold houses from very different decades. About 35 percent was built before 1940, and around 17 percent since 2000. A remodel might be an older house with plaster inside and a century of weather on the outside, or a newer home whose owners want the interior finished to a higher standard.

Water area that large also shapes how a job is planned. Exposed sites take more wind, storms can push a schedule, and exterior work is best done when the weather allows proper installation rather than rushed between fronts. We build the schedule with some room for that, and we tell you plainly when weather is the reason a day moves.

If we find rot in sheathing or framing, we show you and explain the repair before closing it back up.

Exteriors that take the weather

On the coast, the outside of the house does most of the hard work. Salt air corrodes fasteners and flashing, wind drives rain sideways under trim and shingles, and freeze-thaw cycles open small gaps that let water in. Roofing, siding, trim and decks all need materials and details chosen with that exposure in mind.

Decks deserve particular attention. Fasteners and connectors need to suit a coastal setting, ledger boards need proper flashing against the house, and the footings sit beneath the frost line, typically around four feet deep here, so the deck does not heave. A deck built to inland habits tends to show its age early near salt water. The same goes for railings and stairs, which take the brunt of the weather and get used every day.

When we open an exterior wall or roof, we look for water damage that has been working behind the finish. If we find rot in sheathing or framing, we show you and explain the repair before closing it back up. Ice dams are another coastal and inland New England problem, and when a roof comes off we look at ventilation and insulation at the eaves so the new roof is not fighting the same conditions that damaged the old one. Windows and doors on the exposed sides of a house get the same scrutiny, since that is usually where water finds its way in first.

Inside older and newer Cohasset homes

The prewar houses carry the usual old-house work: plaster, framing altered over time, wiring added in stages and lead paint, which means lead-safe work practices during renovation. Exterior changes in a local historic district are reviewed by the historic district commission, and we plan for that review where it applies.

Newer homes tend to need finish work rather than repair: kitchens rebuilt around how the owners cook, baths with custom tile, and layouts opened where the framing allows. Any wall or ceiling we open gets insulated and sealed to whatever energy code the town has adopted. With most homes owner-occupied and single-family, these are usually long-term projects for people planning to stay, and we build them with that in mind.

Cohasset is about 26 miles northeast of Raynham. Steve runs the job and keeps you updated, the proposal is in writing before a ladder goes up, and any addition to it is priced and agreed before the crew acts on it. On a coastal job, where a roof or wall may be open to weather, we also tell you how the house will be protected overnight and before any storm comes through.