Home Remodeling in Elsmere, DE
Kitchen, bath and basement work for the rowhouses and older homes of the Town of Elsmere.
Elsmere is a small incorporated town just west of Wilmington that was open farmland into the late 1800s, when DuPont Road carried black powder from the mills to the Christina River for shipping. The town grew along Wilmington Avenue, New Road and the western extension of New Road that became Kirkwood Highway. Its housing runs from 1915 to about 2002, and the mix is distinctive for the suburbs: two-story brick rowhouses with small yards on some blocks, and single-family houses of every shape on others.
A rowhouse in Elsmere has the same logic as one in the city, a shared party wall, a back kitchen and a basement, but on a slightly larger lot and with a driveway. Dawson's serves Elsmere for the kitchens, baths and basements that these houses need after a century, and for the exterior work that keeps a shared wall looking like one building.
Permits go through the Town of Elsmere
Elsmere issues its own building permits through its Code Enforcement department, which works with the town's Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission. That is a different desk from New Castle County, which handles the unincorporated streets a few blocks away in Stanton and Marshallton. The town code has its own building construction chapter and a property maintenance chapter, and the code enforcement officer inspects building sites, including any site that will sit closed for more than five days. Contractors also need a town business license to work inside the limits.
Rowhouse kitchens and baths
Elsmere's rowhouse kitchens are at the back of the first floor, and the wall between the kitchen and dining room is usually the only thing between a dark kitchen and a bright one. Removing it and running cabinets along the party wall, where the plumbing already lives, is the plan that suits most of these houses. Bathrooms are on the second floor over the kitchen, small and original, and rebuilding one from the subfloor up with a ventilation fan the house never had is a job that often gets paired with the kitchen so the walls open once.
Basements and exteriors
The 1920s to 1950s houses here have block or poured basements that generally finish well after a moisture assessment. On the exterior, a rowhouse siding or window job is planned with the neighbor's half in mind so the block keeps its rhythm, and the single-family houses from the 1940s and 1950s are candidates for full siding replacement over the original sheathing.
Dawson's serves Elsmere for kitchens, bathrooms, basements, additions, windows, siding, decks and carpentry.
Nearby, Dawson's also serves Newport, Marshallton, Wilmington and Greenville.
Elsmere is part of the New Castle County, DE service area.
Ready to plan a remodel in Elsmere?
Call Dom with the address and the project, or send the details through the form. The walkthrough is free and the estimate comes in writing.