A small footprint, used twice over
Avondale houses do not have spare space. Most of the gain here comes from reorganising what exists rather than adding to it.
Avondale, Chicago
Remodeling in Avondale, Chicago
Avondale was built modestly and built small — workers’ cottages, two-flats and bungalows on twenty-five-foot lots. Renovating here is almost always about finding capacity the original plan never gave you.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Neighborhood
Avondale, Chicago
Typical housing
Workers cottages & brick two-flats
Permits issued by
Chicago Dept. of Buildings
Our office
N. Halsted St., Chicago
Avondale, Chicago
Renovating Homes in Avondale
Avondale sits along the North Branch between Logan Square and Irving Park, built out for the workers of the factories that lined the river. The housing reflects that: frame workers’ cottages, brick bungalows and two-flats from roughly 1890 to 1930, on standard twenty-five-foot lots, with the Polish Village stretch along Milwaukee Avenue at its heart.
These are small houses that were built well. The brick is sound, the framing is honest, and the plans are tight — a kitchen at the rear next to the back porch, one bathroom, and a basement that was never meant to be lived in.
So the work is about capacity. A finished basement, a second bathroom, a kitchen opened to the dining room, a dormer. Each of those changes how the house lives far more than any change of finish would, and in a cottage you own outright they are all achievable.
Your Building
Find your building, and you will find your project
Avondale was built for people who worked nearby, and the housing is smaller and more tightly packed than its neighbours. Space is the problem to solve.
| Era and building type | What you find inside | What a whole-home project becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 1885–1910 — frame workers cottages | A small plan raised over a lower level, a few rooms in a line, and a staircase that eats a quarter of the floor. | Reorganising a very small footprint, with the lower level brought properly into use. |
| 1900–1930 — brick two-flats and three-flats | Stacked units over one waste stack, rear porches, and kitchens built for a different kind of household. | One home or two, decided first, then the rear of the building rebuilt around that answer. |
| 1920–1940 — brick bungalows | A longer plan, art glass, a single bathroom, and an attic that was never finished. | Opening the rear and going up into the attic, which is where the extra room is. |
| 2000–today — rebuilds and conversions | Newer work inside older shells, often ambitious and not always well done. | Finish-led, after an honest look at what was done before. |
Inside The Building
What you are actually working inside
Cut through a typical Avondale building and the six things that decide a whole-home project are visible at once. Red marks what is shared or structural.
Scroll the drawing sideways →
- 1
One stack for the whole building
Every kitchen and bathroom ties into it. In a small building that single line governs nearly every layout decision.
- 2
The bearing wall
In a cottage or a two-flat it runs the length of the building. It is the wall that has to be understood before any plan is drawn.
- 3
The service panel
Often original and often shared between units. Consolidating and sizing it is part of almost every project here.
- 4
The back porch and the gangway
The only way in. On a narrow Avondale lot this is the single biggest logistical constraint.
- 5
The raised lower level
A cottage sits over it and people have usually lived in it. Its ceiling height and condition decide whether it becomes real living space.
- 6
Joists and plaster above
Joist direction limits where walls can move upstairs, and plaster sets how much repair follows every service run.
In Avondale
Room-by-Room in Avondale
What the work actually involves here: the housing stock, who issues the permit, and what the budget turns on.
Kitchen Remodeling in Avondale
Avondale cottages were built small and built well. The kitchen project here is about finding capacity the original plan never gave you — and the basement is usually where it comes from.
Read more →Bathroom Remodeling in Avondale
Most Avondale cottages have one bathroom and a basement nobody has finished. Those two facts together are usually the project.
Read more →
What We Do
Remodeling Services for Avondale Homes
Most projects here combine more than one of these. Each links through to the full service page.
Kitchen Remodeling
Full kitchen remodels, from opening up a closed-off layout to cabinetry, countertops, tile and the plumbing and electrical work behind them.
View service →Bathroom Remodeling
Bathroom remodels that make small, older layouts work harder: waterproofing, tile, vanities, fixtures and shower or tub replacement.
View service →Custom Kitchen Cabinets
Cabinetry built and fitted to the room rather than the other way round, including scribing to walls that are rarely square.
View service →Walk-In Shower Installation
Replacing an unused tub or a dated enclosure with a level-access shower, properly waterproofed and tiled.
View service →On Site
What makes remodeling here different
These are the conditions that decide the sequence and the contingency on a whole-home job in Avondale. We plan around them rather than discover them.
The raised lower level
Nearly every cottage has one, and nearly every project turns on whether its ceiling height makes it usable. It is measured on the first visit.
One stack, several kitchens
In a two-flat or three-flat the whole building is on one line. Doing it in a single programme opens that wall once.
The long bearing wall
It runs the length of the building. Opening it is a beam and a permit, and it is the change that makes a small house feel different.
Narrow lots, close neighbours
A gangway of a few feet and a shared rear. Deliveries and waste are planned before the first day, not on it.
A supply built for flats
Separate meters and undersized service are common. Sorting the supply once, at the start, avoids doing it twice.
Permits
Which permit does your project need?
The question every Avondale homeowner asks first, answered before you commit to anything. Follow your own project across.
Scroll the chart sideways →
This is the route, not a ruling. Scope decides it and the city has the final say, so we confirm which branch your project sits on in writing before any money is committed.
Where It Goes
Where the money actually goes
No two Avondale buildings price the same, so this is an order rather than a number: the lines that pull hardest on a whole-home budget here, largest first.
Cabinetry and built-in joinery
The largest line, and in a small house it is doing the work of a whole room, because storage is what these plans lack most.
Structural work and the lower level
The beam that opens the plan, and the underpinning, damp work and egress that turn a raised basement into living space.
Labour and project management
Trades and supervision on a site where two trades genuinely cannot work at once.
Services and supply
Consolidating meters, rerunning the stack and sizing the panel for one household.
Surfaces: stone, tile and flooring
Countertops, tile and refinishing original floors across a compact plan.
Permits, protection and insurance
City permit, protection of a shared rear and gangway, dust containment. Small, and never worth cutting.
This is the order these lines typically fall in on a whole-home project in Avondale, not a breakdown of your project. Your figures come from a site visit and a scope, and nowhere else.
Coverage
Where we work in Avondale
Avondale is not one place. These are the parts of it we are in most often.
Polish VillageBelmont GardensThe Kosciuszko Park areaThe Milwaukee Avenue corridorWest Avondale
Planning a Renovation in Avondale?
Tell us about the property and what you want to change. We will set up a consultation, walk the space, and come back with a scope, a schedule and a price.
FAQ
Avondale Remodeling FAQs
What kinds of homes are in Avondale?
Frame workers’ cottages, brick bungalows and two-flats built roughly between 1890 and 1930, on standard twenty-five-foot lots, with newer infill scattered through. It is a neighbourhood of small, solidly built houses.
Can our basement be finished properly?
Often, and it is the most effective way to add real living space in a cottage. What decides it is the headroom you actually have, where the beam and the services run, and the drainage. We measure all of that on the first visit rather than promising a ceiling height that will not exist once the floor build-up is in.
Can a second bathroom be added?
Usually yes. The two candidates are the basement and the attic under a new dormer. A basement bathroom frequently sits below the sewer line and needs an ejector pump, which is ordinary work but should be priced from the start rather than raised later.
Our floors step between rooms. What causes that?
The house was almost certainly raised over a new basement at some point, which is very common in Avondale. Lifting it left the floors out of one plane and the services joined up afterwards, often across several eras and materials. Both are corrected before anything is tiled.
Do I need a permit?
Yes, for anything that alters plumbing, electrical or structure. The Chicago Department of Buildings issues it. A finished basement, a new bathroom or a dormer needs a full permit with drawings rather than the Easy Permit Process. We prepare and file it.