Whole-home remodeling in Westchester

28%² of the county's homes predate 1940. Behind plaster on wood lath, a gut renovation of one of those houses usually finds a mix of original and updated wiring, steel or brass supply pipe, and heating pipes wrapped in old insulation. The EPA notes that lead can collect inside galvanized pipe and later reach drinking water, and that solder made before 1986 contained high levels of lead.¹⁴

Unless a lead-based paint inspection shows otherwise, the EPA says to treat paint in homes built before 1978 as if it contains lead.¹⁵ For homes built before 1978, the EPA advises hiring contractors who use only lead-safe certified renovators.¹⁶ When demolition moves through the whole house, every room needs dust containment, not just the kitchen.

Beyond flooring, the EPA lists vermiculite attic and wall insulation, roofing and siding shingles, textured paint and patching compounds on walls and ceilings, and hot water and steam pipes wrapped in asbestos blanket or tape among the places asbestos may be found in a home.¹⁷ The EPA advises having an accredited asbestos professional inspect before a remodel that could disturb suspect materials, and not sanding or power-stripping suspect flooring yourself.¹⁸

In New York, a building that is substantially improved, meaning the work is valued at more than half of the structure's market value, falls under the same floodplain development rules as new construction.¹³ The Village of Mamaroneck counts substantial improvement cumulatively, adding up improvements over ten years against the 50 percent of market value that brings a building under its flood rules.¹⁹ A kitchen this year and a basement in a few years can add up to that line, so keep every permit and invoice.

In Mamaroneck's A flood zones, the lowest floor of a home must sit at least two feet above the base flood elevation, and enclosed areas below grade on all sides count as basements and are not permitted.¹⁹ Harrison's flood law also treats a house as substantially damaged when flooding has damaged it twice in ten years and each repair cost at least 25 percent of its market value.²⁰ If your house has flooded before, ask the building department what the past repairs count for before you price the new work.

These are the national model code's provisions; your municipality applies New York's edition. When alterations, repairs or additions that need a permit are made, the 2021 International Residential Code requires the home to have smoke alarms where a new house would, including in each bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every story; exterior-only work and plumbing or mechanical work are exempt.²¹ When branch-circuit wiring is modified, replaced or extended in kitchens, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, hallways, laundry areas and similar rooms, the 2021 International Residential Code requires arc-fault (AFCI) protection for that circuit, unless the extension is no more than 6 feet long and adds no outlets or devices.²²

Irvington requires drawings by a licensed professional when a bathroom or kitchen remodel removes or builds walls, windows or doors.¹¹ Opening up a center hall or taking down a bearing wall to join kitchen and dining room is that kind of change.

For very dusty work such as demolition, the EPA describes isolating the work area: sealing it off with no direct access to the occupied rooms, with workers using a separate entrance until cleanup is done.¹⁵ In a three-story colonial it can be done by finishing one floor at a time, as long as a working bath stays on the floor you're living on.

A simple dust barrier, the EPA says, is 6-mil plastic sheeting taped over doors and other openings, with sheeting also taped over the room's heating, cooling or ventilation registers so dust doesn't spread or get into the ducts.¹⁵ Old forced-air ducts carry dust from room to room, which is why the sheeting goes over the registers too.

More than one in four adults 65 and older fall each year.²³ 34%²⁴ of the county's owner-occupied homes are headed by someone sixty-five or older. While the walls are open, a ground-floor full bath and blocking for grab bars cost far less than they will later. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²⁵

The number on this page connects you, on a recorded line, with one independent company that handles whole-home remodels in the Westchester area. Which rooms come first, the schedule and the price are worked out between you and that company.

That company pays us for the call. You pay us nothing, and we won't call or text you afterward. How we make money

Check the company yourself before you sign. Westchester County's Department of Consumer Protection licenses home improvement contractors and requires plumbers and electricians to hold a county trade license to work in the county.²⁶ Westchester County tells consumers to ask plumbers and electricians to show their county license card, which shows when the license expires, or to search the county's online list of licensed tradespeople.²⁷ Check a New York license

If a New York home improvement contract has progress payments, it must list each payment in dollars and cents and the stage of work it pays for, and each payment must bear a reasonable relationship to the work done, materials bought or expenses owed at that point.²⁸ On a job this long, tie each payment to an inspection passed or a room finished.