The stack belongs to the building
In a courtyard block or a tower, the waste and supply lines serve every unit on the line. Work on them is scheduled with the building, not just with you.
Edgewater, Chicago
Remodeling in Edgewater, Chicago
Edgewater holds two housing stocks a few blocks apart — lakefront high-rises on Sheridan Road, and frame houses and two-flats in Edgewater Glen and Andersonville. The renovation work is not the same in each.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Neighborhood
Edgewater, Chicago
Typical housing
Courtyard buildings & lakefront towers
Permits issued by
Chicago Dept. of Buildings
Our office
N. Halsted St., Chicago
Edgewater, Chicago
Renovating Homes in Edgewater
Edgewater runs from Foster to Devon, lake to Ravenswood. Along Sheridan Road it is high-rise: 1960s and 1970s concrete towers with hundreds of units, plus a run of grand 1920s buildings near Bryn Mawr. Move a few blocks west into Edgewater Glen and the Andersonville edge and it turns to frame single-family houses, brick two-flats and vintage courtyard buildings.
In a tower the job is procedural. Elevator scheduling, protection of common areas, a certificate of insurance and a board that approves the scope all come before the first day of demolition, and the riser fixes where the plumbing can go. In a frame house on Glenwood, none of that applies and the constraint is structural instead.
Knowing which Edgewater you live in is the first question we ask. It changes the schedule more than the specification does.
Your Building
Find your building, and you will find your project
Edgewater runs from a wall of lakefront towers through courtyard blocks to quiet streets of single-family houses. Which of those you live in decides almost everything about the project.
| Era and building type | What you find inside | What a whole-home project becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 1910–1930 — courtyard buildings and vintage walk-ups | Plumbing stacked between units, radiator heat, hardwood worth saving, and kitchens designed around a back stair. | Layout work inside the existing footprint, with the association review running alongside the permit. |
| 1920–1940 — Lakewood Balmoral and Bryn Mawr houses | Brick single-family homes with formal plans, original millwork and a rear kitchen that has been extended at least once already. | Unpicking the earlier extension before adding anything, which is the step most often skipped here. |
| 1950–1975 — lakefront towers | Concrete slabs, no basement, services in soffits, and bathrooms with no exterior wall. | A design problem first: where a soffit can run decides the plan, and the building decides the schedule. |
| 1990–today — newer condo conversions | Modern service inside an older shell, with a previous conversion to work around. | Finish-led, with the quality of that earlier conversion the main unknown. |
Inside The Building
What you are actually working inside
Cut through a typical Edgewater building and the six things that decide a whole-home project are visible at once. Red marks what you share with everybody else in the building.
Scroll the drawing sideways →
- 1
The building stack, not yours
Your kitchen and bathroom tie into a line shared with every unit above and below. How far a fixture can move from it is the single biggest constraint in the unit.
- 2
Partitions rather than structure
Almost nothing inside the unit carries load, so the plan is freer here than in a house. Plumbing is the limit, not walls.
- 3
The shared stair and lift
Protection, booking and permitted work hours are set by the association. It is a planning item that decides the programme more than the scope does.
- 4
The units either side
Noise rules and access to neighbouring units shape the working day more than anything inside your own four walls.
- 5
A concrete slab
Nothing runs through the floor. Anything that has to move sideways runs in a soffit or it does not move.
- 6
The existing soffit
Already carrying services. Where it stays and where it can be reshaped is usually the first thing worked out on an Edgewater plan.
In Edgewater
Room-by-Room in Edgewater
What the work actually involves here: the housing stock, who issues the permit, and what the budget turns on.
Kitchen Remodeling in Edgewater
A kitchen on Sheridan Road and a kitchen in Edgewater Glen are two different jobs a few blocks apart — one bounded by a concrete slab and a freight lift, the other by a bearing wall and a basement.
Read more →Bathroom Remodeling in Edgewater
In a Sheridan Road tower the bathroom is bounded by a concrete slab; in Edgewater Glen it is bounded by 1915 plumbing. We rebuild both properly, and the waterproofing matters more than anything you can see.
Read more →
What We Do
Remodeling Services for Edgewater 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 Edgewater. We plan around them rather than discover them.
The association reviews before the city does
Scope, insurance certificate, work hours and lift booking. We prepare the submission in the format boards ask for and run it alongside the permit.
No floor void, no easy answers
A concrete slab means services cannot drop into the floor. Moving a toilet or a sink any distance becomes a soffit, a raised plinth, or a no.
The ceiling is doing the work
Existing soffits already carry the building services. Reshaping them is what makes a new kitchen layout possible in a tower unit.
One unit, one bathroom, one front door
There is rarely a second bathroom to fall back on and only one way in. Whether you stay in the unit changes the sequence more than the finishes do.
A lift, a loading dock and a booking sheet
Everything arrives through a lift you have to book. It sets what can be delivered assembled and what has to be built in place.
Permits
Which permit does your project need?
The question every Edgewater 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, and in a condo building the association review sits on top of all of it. We confirm the whole picture in writing before any money is committed.
Where It Goes
Where the money actually goes
No two Edgewater homes 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 in almost every unit, and in a compact vintage plan it is also the storage the apartment was never given.
Labour and project management
Trades, supervision, and the coordination with the building that a condo project needs and a house does not.
Moving services inside a slab building
Soffits, chases and the plumbing work that follows any fixture that moves. This line is the one that separates a condo budget from a house budget.
Surfaces: stone, tile and flooring
Countertops, bathroom tile and flooring, with the building sound rules often deciding what underlay goes beneath it.
Fixtures, appliances and lighting
The widest spread on the list, and in a smaller unit the part most visible day to day.
Permits, association requirements and protection
City permit, certificate of insurance, lift and corridor protection. The smallest line and the one the building will not let you skip.
This is the order these lines typically fall in on a whole-home project in Edgewater, not a breakdown of your project. Your figures come from a site visit and a scope, and nowhere else.
Coverage
Where we work in Edgewater
Edgewater is not one place. These are the parts of it we are in most often.
AndersonvilleLakewood BalmoralThe Bryn Mawr Historic DistrictEdgewater BeachThe Broadway corridor
Planning a Renovation in Edgewater?
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
Edgewater Remodeling FAQs
What kinds of homes are in Edgewater?
Two quite different groups. Along Sheridan Road, 1960s and 1970s high-rise condominiums plus grand 1920s buildings near Bryn Mawr. West of Broadway, frame single-family houses, brick two-flats and vintage courtyard buildings in Edgewater Glen and on the Andersonville edge.
What is different about renovating in a high-rise?
The building sets the pace. Freight elevator windows, protection of common areas, restricted hours, a certificate of insurance and board approval all come before demolition. The floor slab is structural, so a relocated fixture means a raised build-up rather than chasing into concrete.
Can the bathroom layout change in a tower unit?
Within limits. The riser is fixed and the slab cannot be cut, so the toilet stays close to where it is. A vanity, a shower and the storage have real freedom, and in practice that is where a tower bathroom is transformed.
Our frame house has low water pressure. Why?
Almost always galvanised steel supply, which corrodes from the inside so the pipe looks fine while the bore closes up. We price replacement back to the nearest accessible branch as standard rather than treating it as a variation.
Is my bathroom fan actually vented outside?
Often not. In both the towers and the older houses, fans get terminated into a shaft or a ceiling void, which relocates the moisture rather than removing it. We check what the existing one does on the first visit and duct it properly as part of the work.