Home Remodeling in Marshallton, DE
Remodeling for the old village houses and the midcentury homes of Marshallton, Delaware.
Marshallton is a mill village. Solomon Hersey built a gristmill on the Red Clay Creek in 1765, and in 1836 the settlement took the name of John Marshall, who ran a rolling mill on the same stretch of water. The Wilmington and Western Railroad opened its line up the creek valley in 1872 with a station on what is now Old Capitol Trail, and the line still runs through Marshallton as a heritage railroad based on Newport Gap Pike. Two of the village's older buildings went on the National Register in 1994: the Springer-Cranston House on Stanton Road, a late 18th-century house of local granite with a stuccoed stone service wing, and the Hickman Blacksmith Shop and House on Greenbank Road, a two-story frame house of about 1860 on a stone foundation with the shop beside it.
Most of Marshallton's houses are younger than that. The bulk went up between 1940 and 1969, in neighborhoods like Marshallton Heights, mostly single-family houses of three bedrooms or more. Dawson's serves Marshallton for both ends of that range: the stone or frame house near the creek and the midcentury house a few blocks away.
Stone walls and old foundations
Granite walls and stone foundations shape every project in the older houses. Plumbing and wiring go inside interior partitions, because a stone exterior wall cannot be chased the way a stud wall can. The kitchen is usually in a service wing or a rear addition and gets rebuilt in place, and a new bathroom gets its fan ducted up through the roof rather than out through the masonry. Stone cellars are checked for moisture before anyone plans a room below grade. Windows in a masonry wall have deep jambs, so replacements are measured to each opening and trimmed to match the others.
The 1940s to 1960s houses
The midcentury houses tend to be Cape Cods, ranchers and modest two-stories with closed kitchens and one full bath. Taking out the partition to the dining room turns two cramped rooms into one that works, and the hall bath, often on its original tile, is rebuilt to the studs. A Cape's half-story finishes into a bedroom and bath, and on deeper lots a family room or a deck goes on the back.
County permits and the creek
Marshallton is unincorporated, which puts the permit and the inspections with New Castle County's Land Use department. Newport, a couple of miles to the southeast, is its own town with its own permit desk, so an address near the edge is worth confirming. The two Register listings recognize those houses, but neither appeared on the county's 2016 list of historic overlay zoning districts, which is what adds design review to a county permit. Houses on low ground near the Red Clay Creek are a separate matter: look at the flood maps before planning a finished room at or below grade.
Ready to plan a remodel in Marshallton?
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.