Remodeling and Home Repairs in Newport, Elsmere and Stanton, DE
- Elsmere Row Houses
- Newport Cape Cods and Ranches
- Stanton Homes by the Creeks
Jimmy prices the job at the house, usually on an evening visit.
Newport, Elsmere and Stanton are close neighbors in New Castle County, yet a house in each one answers to a different set of rules. The houses differ just as much, from Elsmere's brick row houses to Newport's Cape Cods and ranches.
We take homes only. Here, that tends to mean doors set in masonry openings, compact kitchens, and small baths.
A Family Business on the Public Record
Three Rulebooks on One Stretch of Road
Elsmere is its own municipality and has adopted the 2021 ICC codes. Its Code Enforcement office requires residential permits for re-roofing, siding, windows and doors, structural changes, all decks, and interior alterations, as well as plumbing permits for new water, gas, or sewer piping. Electrical work there goes through third-party inspection.
Newport requires a permit for structural work such as a roof, an addition or demolition, and for plumbing, mechanical and electrical work. Inspections follow once a permit is issued. Stanton follows the county's permit rules.
Insurance-paid water and storm jobs are not ours, and a flooded room is dried out and cleared by others before we rebuild it.
Walls, ceilings, trim and siding aren't painted by us; cabinets and basement or porch floors are.
The roof over the house itself is not work we take on.
Newport, Elsmere and the County Community of Stanton
Elsmere covers about 1 square mile and became a town when around 70 families agreed to form one. Newport is older and smaller, and its streets still carry names like Ayre, Augustine, John and James. Stanton is unincorporated.
| Place | Status | The houses |
|---|---|---|
| Elsmere | Incorporated town, 1909 | Around DuPont Road and New Road, 1880s to 1920s; outlying areas, 1943 to the early 1960s |
| Elsmere's post-war sections | Inside the town | Elsmere Manor (1943), Vilone Village (1946 to 1950), Elsmere Park (1950) and Elsmere Gardens (1955 to 1963) |
| Newport | Town plan 1735; incorporated 1873 | Across the town, pre-war and mid-century |
| Stanton | Unincorporated, New Castle County; first settled about 1679 | Established neighborhoods near the creeks, no single era |
What These Houses Are Built Like
Elsmere's brick row houses
Elsmere began as farmland sold off in lots around DuPont Road and New Road and advertised as an escape from the noise of the city. Its outlying sections filled in later, largely with row houses.
A row house shares its side walls, so its kitchen and bath occupy a narrow footprint, and there is no side yard to work from. On a brick house, an exterior door sits in a masonry opening with a lintel over it, so a replacement door is sized to that opening rather than the opening being made to fit the door.
Newport's smaller brick Capes and one-floor ranches
Some of Newport's brick Cape Cods are around 900 square feet. In a Cape Cod, the upstairs rooms sit under the roof slope, with short knee walls along the sides and dormers for headroom. That shape limits where an upstairs bath or a closet can go. A ranch keeps everything on one floor, which makes it a natural fit for grab bars and a bath set up for the years ahead.
grab bar installationStanton, by the creeks
Stanton sits where the Red Clay and White Clay Creeks meet, and low ground near the creeks flooded in July 1989. On a lot near the water, the parts of a house closest to the ground take the wet: the foot of a basement or garage door, the bottom of an exterior jamb, the lowest deck posts. Those get probed for soft wood whenever a door or deck job comes up there.
Services for Newport, Elsmere and Stanton Houses
Kitchens, baths and plumbing
New cabinets and counters laid out for a compact row-house or Cape Cod kitchen.
Sink cabinet replacement after a leakA water-damaged sink base in a row-house kitchen, replaced once the leak is fixed.
Bathroom remodelingA bath rebuilt with new drain lines, supply valves, and fixtures.
Shower and tub replacementA new tub or shower in the small bath of a Cape Cod or ranch, without moving the walls.
Toilet and faucet replacementNew fixtures, with the old flange replaced if it is cast iron or rotted.
Plumbing repairsDrain and supply repairs in the houses of Elsmere and Newport.
Doors and entries
Entry and interior doors fitted to the existing frame, square or not.
Storm door installationA new storm door hung on a row-house or Cape Cod entry.
Rotted door jamb repairSoft wood at the bottom of an exterior door frame cut out and rebuilt.
Basement and garage side doorsA new basement door where the steps lead down from the yard of an Elsmere house.
Deadbolt and lock installationA deadbolt added to an entry door that has only a knob lock.
Outside and underfoot
The steps and landing of a deck off a Cape Cod's back door, where a short run of stairs takes the most wear.
PorticosA roof over the front step of a Newport Cape Cod.
Hardwood floor repairDamaged boards in a hardwood floor replaced with matched ones.
Window replacementWhole new windows set into the existing openings.
The Same Google Rating in Newport, Elsmere and Stanton
More reviews from our customers, straight from Google.
Through the Front Door, With the Neighbors in Mind
An inside row house has no side yard, so everything comes and goes through the front or the back door: the old tub, the new cabinets, the boxes of tile. A narrow entry also sets what can be carried in whole, so a long cabinet run or a one-piece tub surround is measured against the doorway before it is ordered. On a Cape, the stair to the rooms under the roof may be narrow and turn under the slope, so the same measuring applies to anything headed up there. Jimmy Grubb and his son do the work themselves. Once you say yes, the job goes on the calendar; right now that is about six weeks out.
Small fixes get booked as well. A single small task, like a smoke detector or a lock, is a $100 service call plus $25 for every 15 minutes of work.
Jimmy prices every project in person at your home, never from a photo or a text. Project estimates are free and are usually scheduled in the evening.
Our work carries a one-year workmanship warranty, dated from the day the job is finished.
Asked in Newport, Elsmere and Stanton
Not on its own. Newport, Stanton and parts of Elsmere all use 19804, so the town boundary decides it, not the ZIP.
It depends on what is underneath. A bath placed over the kitchen or the downstairs bath has a short drain run, and where the roof slope leaves too little headroom for a tub or shower, the bath may not fit without a dormer, which is roof work we don't take on. Both are looked at during the visit.
The work stays inside your walls, but sound carries through a shared wall, so a day of pulling out a tub or cutting tile will be heard on the other side. A word to the neighbor before the noisy days goes a long way.
Yes. Putting them in early means they are where your hand already goes when they are needed. Each bar is fastened into a stud or into blocking behind the wall, and the first three bars are listed at $600.
Yes. Elsmere Manor, Vilone Village, Elsmere Park and Elsmere Gardens are all sections inside the town, so Elsmere's permits apply there, and the county's do not.
Row House, Cape or Ranch?
Say which, and which room the job is in. In a row house, mention which door the work can come through, front or back.
Precision Home Worx · Based in Claymont, DE · (302) 321-3577 (call or text) · Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Serving Wilmington, Claymont, North Wilmington, Hockessin, Pike Creek, Greenville, Newark, New Castle, Bear and the rest of northern Delaware.
