Renovation
116 E Main Street
Burkittsville, MD
Scope of Work:
The subject property was purchased March 15, 2014.
The original structure was built in 1834, with the last section being added in 1910. The house had been empty for several years, and had been neglected for many years prior to that. There was a tree growing out of the side of the house from the attic. The front east side and the upper rear of the house had significant structural issues. The basement was wet. There was no working plumbing. The screened porch was disintegrating.
The floor plan was choppy and ineffective upstairs. While the walls were open all existing plumbing and electric were removed and replaced with all new, up-to-code materials.
When the kitchen floor was pulled up, we found that all of the joists were rotted and crumbling. The area was cleaned out, ground-works for plumbing, electric and HVAC installed, and concrete poured to shore up the room. The front east side of the house was rebuilt from the ground up, and the two chimneys that were buckling were removed and the areas rebuilt with two course of bricks. A laminate beam was installed in the basement to shore up the rear of the house. The entire house and summer kitchen were checked for stability and repointing was done wherever necessary. The entire basement was repointed. It was also dug down several inches, drain tile and a sump pump was installed, new gravel and concrete were laid.
The entire house received two coats of masonry paint. The entire roof was replaced. After the entire jambs were rebuilt, all new energy efficient windows were installed. A new well was dug, and a new BAT septic system was installed. The boxy K-Style gutters and downspouts were removed and replaced with period appropriate half-rounds. The screened porch was taken down and rebuilt. The original windows from the porch were salvageable and were sanded, painted, reglazed and reinstalled.
The upstairs layout was completely reconfigured to allow for three bedrooms, two full baths, and a laundry area all coming off of a center hallway as opposed to walking through bedrooms as in the old layout.
The house has a total of six fireplaces (one in the summer kitchen) -- 3 have been converted to gas log, and one to electric.
Period appropriate trim for the base, doors, windows and crown were custom milled and installed throughout the house.
The three bedroom, one bath house has been converted to a three bedroom, 2 1/2 bath historic home with modern conveniences. All exterior doors and the basement door were sanded, restored and re-hung. All wood flooring that was salvageable, was restored.
The Murphy’s are visionaries with a plan. This house was not only saved it was beautifully restored.
