Home Remodeling in Chicago, IL
Chicago's bungalow belt is one of the most consistent bodies of housing stock in the country, and it comes with a very consistent set of remodeling problems.
What Chicago homes are actually built like
The classic Chicago bungalow — brick, story-and-a-half, low-pitched roof, full basement — was built by the tens of thousands between roughly 1910 and 1940. Alongside them sit two-flats, three-flats and greystones from the same era. The construction quality is genuinely good: solid masonry, old-growth framing lumber. What has aged badly is everything inside the walls.
What that means for your project
- Knob-and-tube wiring is still live in many un-updated bungalows, and no insurer likes it. Most kitchen or bath work here turns into partial rewiring.
- Galvanized steel supply lines corrode closed from the inside. Low pressure upstairs is usually this, not the fixture.
- Plaster over wood lath, not drywall. It cracks differently, patches differently, and demolition is far dirtier than people expect.
- Original bathrooms are small and land over a joist run that limits where a new drain can go. Moving a toilet is rarely a small change.
Common questions in Chicago
Can you open up the kitchen wall in a Chicago bungalow?
Often yes, but the wall between the kitchen and dining room is frequently load-bearing in a bungalow, and there is usually a chimney chase nearby. It becomes a beam-and-header job with a permit rather than a simple demolition, so we look at the framing before quoting it.
Do I need a permit for remodeling work in Chicago?
The Chicago Department of Buildings requires permits for structural, electrical and plumbing work, and the city inspects it. We handle the filing. Cosmetic work such as painting or flooring generally does not require one.