Remodeling Your Historic Home in Minneapolis, MN
Character is what makes most cities shine and Minneapolis is no different. Each city has its own look and feel that has generally been around for decades. These attributes are influenced by the unique architecture and infrastructure of the city. You can see the style of the city by driving around town in businesses, offices, and restaurants, but that special look extends to homes as well, particularly, historic homes. If you are looking to remodel your Historic Home in Minneapolis, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know!
Minneapolis Historic Attic Remodel Before/After
what is a historic home?
Historic homes will differ depending on your city. In in Minneapolis, we tend to run into remodeling cost increases in homes built prior to 1980. Not all of those homes are necessarily considered “historic,” however, they tend to need a bit more work to accomplish the desired finished look. These homes have their own exquisite character that makes them charming and desirable to live in. We love working with historic homes to help keep their charm while bringing them up to date with current trends and functionality!
How much will remodeling cost?
Preexisting conditions in your home and which area you plan on remodeling will play a factor in how much your remodel will cost. With historic homes, there isn’t a one size fits all cost prediction since each home is a bit different. However, you should expect to pay a higher rate for the remodel overall. Here are some average costs for remodeling areas in historic homes (your remodel cost may be lower or higher):
- Bathroom: $70K
- Kitchen: $80K-$90K
- Whole-Home: $250K+
- Basement: $130K for a fully finished basement and $100K for a nearly finished basement
Cost Factors
When you remodel a historic home many times you will come across conditions in the home that are not up to code. A lot of work goes into bringing an older home up to the current housing code which will drive the cost of your remodel up.
Common Cost Drivers:
- Specialty trades for plumbing and HVAC are needed that have licensing to work on historic homes. Using these trades is more pricey than normal because of the licensing and the messy process of working in a historic home.
- Most, if not all, of the home mechanics, will need to be updated. This can include updating electrical panels or service, cleaning up knob and tube electrical, and replacing asbestos-wrapped pipes.
- Raising the ceiling to meet city regulations. Many historic homes are built with low ceilings that will need to be raised to consider the space habitable by the city. Part of this process often includes relocating pipes that are in the ceiling in order to raise it.
- Leveling out the floor to overcome poor flooring conditions that are often present in older and historic homes.
- Waterproofing tile and making sure that it can drain properly. This can be a costly process but has to be done in nearly all historic home remodels.
- Adding plumbing rough-ins which are typically not present in historic homes.
- Spray foam insulation needs to be added to the walls and rim joists in older and historic homes which isn’t a factor when remodeling newer homes.
- Most homes in this category do not have egress windows which must be added in.
- Dealing with existing remodeled items in the home that were not done properly and working with extremely old conditions that are either dangerous to work in or completely out of commission.
Official Historic Homes
If your home is labeled as a historic home then you have to meet the criteria laid out by the Historic Preservation Commission. If your home falls under their criteria then your home will have to be approved in order to obtain permits. You could run into some back and forth with getting approval which can extend the process and cause frustration but shouldn’t play a large role in altering the cost of the remodel.
Minneapolis Historic Attic Remodel Before/After
turn your historic home into your dream home
While it may sound like a daunting task, remodeling historic homes is quite rewarding and fun work! We truly love taking older homes and bringing life back to them through the remodeling process. Do you have a historic home? We would love to hear from you and show you how we can help make your historic home your dream home! Schedule your Free Design Consult with our award-winning designers today!
