Historic Home Restoration in Mississippi

Old buildings need a different approach

A house built in the 1910s or 1930s was framed with dense old-growth lumber, finished with plaster on lath and trimmed with profiles you can't buy at a big-box store. It was designed to breathe. Treating it like a new subdivision home — sealing it with the wrong materials or tearing out originals by default — tends to create moisture problems and erase character that can't be replaced.

Our restoration work starts by understanding what's original, what has been altered over the years and what is actually failing. From there, we favor repair over replacement and choose materials and methods suited to the building.

Working on a designated Mississippi Landmark

Mississippi law gives the Mississippi Department of Archives and History a review role for designated Mississippi Landmark properties. Before exterior work, demolition or other changes that could affect a landmark's historic character, owners need a permit from the MDAH Board of Trustees.

That process rewards preparation. We help owners document existing conditions with photographs, describe the proposed scope in clear terms, specify materials and repair methods, and sequence the project so permitted work can begin promptly. Our goal is a project plan that respects the building and moves through review without avoidable back-and-forth.

What we restore

Roofs and roof framing

Roofing is where we started, and it's where historic buildings are most vulnerable. We repair and replace roofs in kind where required, rebuild built-in gutters and flashing, and address the sagging rafters and soft sheathing we often find underneath.

Building envelope and siding

Wood clapboard, drop siding and shingles are patched with matching profiles and properly primed. We pay close attention to how water moves off the wall, because that's what keeps old wood sound.

Windows, doors and trim

Original wood windows, transoms, porch columns, brackets and moldings are repaired or replicated rather than swapped for generic parts.

Interiors

Plaster repair, heart pine floors and period-appropriate finishes round out interior work, coordinated with any needed structural or system updates.

Belhaven, Fondren and the Jackson area's older homes

Jackson's historic neighborhoods — Belhaven, Fondren and nearby blocks of Eastover — contain a large share of the metro's early twentieth-century housing stock. Craftsman bungalows, Tudor revivals and colonial revival homes there have specific needs: original windows, complex rooflines, and decades of past repairs that weren't always done well. Owners in these districts benefit from a contractor that recognizes the architecture and knows what local review may involve.

We also work on older homes and commercial buildings in Brandon, Madison, Clinton's Olde Towne and small towns across the region, within about 100 miles of our home base.

Restoration service area

We take historic projects in Brandon, Flowood, Florence, Pelahatchie, Pearl, Richland, Madison, Ridgeland, Gluckstadt, Flora, North & East Jackson, Clinton, Byram and Terry — plus communities within roughly 100 miles of Brandon. Have a property that needs a careful hand? Start with the form below or read about our roofing services.