Home Remodeling in Frederica, DE
Remodeling for the historic houses and the newer homes of Frederica, Delaware.
Frederica began as Johnny Cake Landing, where Spring Creek meets the Murderkill River, and was laid out in town lots in 1772; by 1796 it was Frederica Village. It was a shipping and shipbuilding town, then a canning town, until the railroad went through Dover instead in the 1850s and the river trade faded. The last shipyard closed around 1890. The old town went on the National Register in 1977 as the Frederica Historic District: 118 buildings on about 25 acres along Market, Front and David streets, in Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate styles, the oldest from the middle of the 18th century.
Frederica is growing again. The census counted 774 people in 2010 and 1,073 in 2020, and in 2011 the town added a traditional neighborhood district and a town center district to its zoning. So a Frederica house may be a two-hundred-year-old building on Market Street or a new one near the edge of town, and the rules for each are different. Dawson's serves Frederica, about forty miles south of Middletown.
Historic review before anything else
Frederica does more than list its district. Its land development ordinance sets a Historic District Overlay Zone covering the street frontages on both sides, and any exterior change there, whether building, altering, repairing, moving or demolishing, needs a Historic District Review Certificate of Approval. That application stands apart from every other review and has to be finished before any of them start. It goes to the planning commission fifteen days ahead of its monthly meeting, with photographs of the house and its neighbors, drawings and a description of the materials, and the town council votes on the commission's recommendation. The commission can weigh the Secretary of the Interior's standards for rehabilitation, among other things. Ordinary repairs in the same material, like fixing existing windows or replacing clapboards with clapboards, and a change of paint color get an informal look instead of a full review.
The town permit and the sewer sign-off
The building permit itself comes from the town, signed off by the planning commission and the council. For a kitchen or bathroom alteration, the town wants a Kent County sewer permit in hand before it will review the application, plus a Frederica plumbing permit, and every contractor needs a Frederica contractor's license. Permits last a year, with one six-month extension. Put together, a new kitchen in a Market Street house means a sewer permit, a plumbing permit and a town building permit, while new windows on the same house mean a historic review first. Getting the order right is most of the schedule.
Federal and Victorian houses on the river streets
The district's houses span a long stretch, from mid-1700s landing-era houses to Italianate houses of the canning years, and each era brings its own quirks. Floors run out of level, window openings are sized to old sash, and kitchens sit in rear wings added long after the front rooms. A kitchen in one of these wings gets replanned around the walls it has, with new wiring and plumbing brought in from below. Baths get a sound floor and real ventilation. Out front, the historic review is where siding, windows and porch work get settled before anyone orders material.
Ready to plan a remodel in Frederica?
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.