Renovating an older Park Cities house: what hides in the walls and who issues the permit

Investigate first, then design, then budget

Before renovating an older home in Highland Park or University Park, find out what is behind the walls and under the floors, confirm which town's building department has jurisdiction, and budget a larger contingency than you would for a newer house. Older homes commonly hide undersized electrical service, aging supply and drain lines, walls that turn out to be structural and past work done without a permit. None of that is a reason not to renovate; it is a reason to investigate during design rather than discover it on demolition day.

I have designed and renovated homes in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow since 1997, and most of my work is in exactly this kind of house. The character people love, from the proportions and plaster to the original floors and doors, is worth protecting. The systems behind it usually need to be brought into this century. This guide covers both.

Two towns, one city, three sets of rules

The Park Cities are not part of Dallas. Highland Park is an independent town and University Park is a separate independent city, and together they are surrounded by Dallas, and each runs its own building department, inspectors and construction rules. Preston Hollow and North Dallas addresses fall under the City of Dallas. The three commonly differ on permit requirements, review timelines, contractor registration, working hours, street parking and dumpster placement, and tree protection, so the first step is to confirm which one governs your address.

The details matter. University Park's own permit FAQ, for example, says that moving or adding an electrical outlet requires a permit and that construction is allowed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, except by special permission. In the Park Cities these conduct rules are enforced and the fines are real, so your contractor needs to know them before the first truck arrives.

Before design is final, I like to know the answers to a few questions from the building department that governs the house: which parts of the planned work need permits, how long plan review is currently taking, whether the contractor must register with that town, and whether any historic or conservation considerations apply to the property. Those answers shape the schedule as much as any lead time does, and they are far easier to get before a crew is booked.

What tends to hide behind the plaster

Every older house is different, but the surprises fall into familiar categories. Knowing them lets you budget honestly and ask the right questions before the design is final.

• Electrical: service too small for modern kitchens and air conditioning, knob-and-tube wiring in the oldest homes, aluminum branch wiring in some mid-century work, and two-prong ungrounded outlets that signal parts of the house were never updated
• Plumbing: galvanized supply lines that corrode and restrict flow before they leak, and cast-iron drains with a finite life
• Structure: walls assumed to be decorative that are carrying load, and subfloors under bathrooms softened by past leaks
• Envelope: uninsulated exterior walls, which are very common
• Paperwork: additions or conversions done without permits, which can complicate a new permit application
• Ductwork with no practical route for a new layout

The checks worth doing before you commit

Some investigation is cheap compared with what it prevents. A camera inspection of the main drain line before the budget is finalized tells you whether an old cast-iron or clay line is part of the job; if backups are already happening, read what a failing cast iron sewer line means. Request the permit history for your address from the relevant building department, so unpermitted past work is a known item rather than a surprise at plan review.

Look at the foundation too. Movement is common in North Texas clay soil, and a little is normal, but significant differential movement, such as stair-step cracks in brick or doors that suddenly stick, deserves a structural opinion before you invest in new finishes; what brick cracks and sticking doors may mean is a good starting point. Where I can, I open a wall or two during design rather than waiting for demolition, so the drawings reflect the house as it really is.

Lead paint and the 1978 line

If your house was built before 1978, assume lead-based paint may be present somewhere, often under newer layers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to renovation work that disturbs lead-based paint in homes built before 1978, and it requires the firms doing that work to be EPA-certified or state-certified and to use certified renovators who follow lead-safe work practices.

In practice, that means asking any contractor working on an older house whether their firm is certified and how they will contain dust. Asbestos is also possible in materials of that era. Neither is a reason to panic, but both belong in the plan and the budget from the start. If testing is needed, it is far better to schedule it during design, when the results can shape the scope and the schedule, than to stop a crew mid-demolition while you wait for answers.

Budgeting for an older house

The contingency is where older houses differ most from new ones. On my website I suggest 15 to 20 percent of the construction budget as realistic for a pre-1960 house, and more if you already know about foundation, electrical or plumbing problems. Keep it inside your budget rather than on top of it, and reserve it for what you find, not for upgrades.

Plan for time as well as money. Structural engineering and permit revisions can take days to weeks, a panel upgrade can take weeks, and repairing a rotted subfloor before tile adds a week or more. My guide on how interior design and remodel fees are built explains how to compare proposals so that one contractor's low number is not simply a smaller allowance for the same surprises.

Keeping the character while replacing the systems

The best renovations of older houses update everything you cannot see and protect most of what you can. Replace the wiring, plumbing, insulation and HVAC fully while the walls are open, but keep the trim profiles, the proportions of doors, windows and ceilings, and sound plaster where it can be repaired. Open the plan selectively rather than removing every wall; formal rooms that stay defined are often what make these houses feel the way they do.

When something new is added, such as a kitchen wing or a modern primary bath, a deliberate contrast usually looks better than an imitation of period style. Match existing trim and paint where the old and new meet, so the house still reads as one.

Size the new systems for the finished house, not just for the rooms being touched first. An electrical service, water supply or air conditioning system upgraded only for the kitchen will be undersized the day the primary suite is renovated, and opening finished walls a second time is exactly the cost a careful plan avoids. The same goes for insulation: if the exterior walls are open, insulating them now is far cheaper than it will ever be again.

Keep, restore or replace

Homeowners often ask me what is worth saving. There is no universal answer, but these are the patterns I see in most older Park Cities houses.

• Keep and refinish: original hardwood floors, original doors and hardware
• Decide case by case: original windows, where restoration with storm windows may beat replacement
• Repair where sound: plaster walls
• Usually replace: original kitchens, where the layout is the problem, and old wiring and plumbing
• Replace with selective salvage: original bathrooms
• Usually remove: 1970s to 1990s updates that hide the original quality of the house

Permits, contractors and your paperwork

Most work involving structure, electrical, plumbing, gas or mechanical systems requires a permit, while flooring, paint, trim and furnishings generally do not. The contractor should pull the permit in their own name and show you the approved permit. Ask where the contractor is registered and confirm it, and ask for certificates of insurance for everyone working in your house. A contractor who asks you to pull the permit yourself is shifting the compliance responsibility onto you, so ask why.

Photograph every open wall before it is closed, and make sure the permit is closed out at the end, because an open permit can surface when you sell. Bathrooms deserve particular care in older houses, where subfloors and old waterproofing are often compromised; I cover the details in the bathroom remodel mistakes that show up later. If the whole house needs work, a master plan built in phases often fits better than one long project, as I explain in renovating one room at a time.

Starting with a walk-through

The right first step for an older house is a walk-through with someone who knows this housing stock. When I visit, I look at the layout, the condition of what is visible and the clues to what is not, listen to how the family wants to live in the house and give my first impressions on the spot, including which investigations I would do before drawing anything.

Because I design and run the construction myself, the person who drew the room is the one deciding what to do when a wall reveals something unexpected. In an older house, that happens often enough to matter.

Questions people ask me