The Difference between Rehabilitating and Restoring an Old Home

 


Long-time car professional Bruce Amster helps clients connect with classic and rare car sellers around the world. In addition to his passion for restoring and finding new cars, Bruce Amster enjoys restoring and remodeling old buildings and homes. He has won several awards from the National Historic Society of Massachusetts and was featured in New York Magazine.

Restoring an old home involves returning a structure to a specific time period or date. Most of the time, restorations focus on a time that was significant for the structure. They involve removing all items and materials that were introduced after said date. In many cases, restorations still maintain modern systems such as plumbing and lighting. However, strict restorations remove these items if they did not exist during the chosen time period. The primary purpose of a restoration is to preserve the period significance that a building has.

Meanwhile, rehabilitation focuses on repairing and retaining certain historical aspects of a structure while also preparing it for contemporary living. This may involve adding plumbing or lighting systems, updating the kitchen appliances, or using more modern materials to mimic a house’s former architectural structures. Rehabilitation helps preserve the history of a building without meeting museum-like standards. When properties are severely deteriorated, rehabilitation may provide more freedom during the recovery process than restorations do.