Home Remodeling in Felton, DE
Remodeling for the historic core and the newer houses of Felton, Delaware.
Felton was a whistle stop when the Delaware Railroad pushed south in 1856, and it took the name of Samuel M. Felton, president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. Its first charter, in 1861, told the commissioners to survey and lay out the town as a half-mile square with the tracks down the middle, and that grid is still the heart of it. Passenger trains stopped there until the early 1950s, and the station is on the National Register. So is most of the old town. The Felton Historic District, listed in 1988, counts 162 buildings on 38 acres roughly between North, Walnut, Main and Niles streets, put up from 1856 to 1940 in Queen Anne and plainer Delaware vernacular styles, with a hotel, lodge halls and churches among the houses.
Felton kept growing after that. The town widened its limits in 1995, and the census count went from 784 in 2000 to 1,298 in 2010. Remodeling here starts with knowing which kind of Felton house you have. Dawson's serves Felton from Middletown.
Zoning in town, permits from the county
In Felton the town rules on zoning and the county writes the permit. For a new house or an addition, plans go to the Felton planning and zoning committee, which advises the town council on whether to issue a compliance letter. Once the council approves, you carry that letter to Kent County's permitting division, and the county issues the building permit and inspects. A deck, a fence, a shed or a pool that meets the zoning can skip the committee: the town manager can sign the letter, which saves a full meeting cycle. Ask Town Hall at the start which track your project is on.
Inside the 1988 district
The district's houses run from the first railroad years through 1940, so one block can hold a Queen Anne house with an ornamented porch and a plain two-story vernacular house beside it. Being on the Register does not, on its own, add a hearing or a certificate for a homeowner's project here, so the outside is your call. Most owners still want what makes these houses look right: porch posts and railings copied from the originals, siding with the right exposure, and windows that fill the original openings. Inside, the work is kitchens brought up to date without losing the old trim, and baths rebuilt on a sound floor with a fan that actually vents outside.
Houses on the newer streets
The houses added as Felton grew in the 2000s are ready for a first update: kitchens with better storage and a working layout, a tub swapped for a walk-in shower, a deck or a screened porch off the back. Since the town manager can sign off on decks directly, a deck is often the quickest outdoor project to get started here.
Ready to plan a remodel in Felton?
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.