A Tower Grove South gut rehab that kept its plaster

The brief

A two-family converted back to a single home. Knob and tube wiring, galvanized supply lines, an octopus furnace, and beautiful original woodwork under eight coats of paint. The owners wanted a modern house that still felt like 1912.

What made it difficult

Rewiring and re-plumbing a plaster house usually means destroying the plaster. The owners specifically asked us to save the medallions, the picture rail and the original pocket doors.

Asbestos on the duct runs and lead paint throughout meant abatement had to happen before any demolition, which compressed the schedule.

What we did

We ran new circuits and supply lines through closets, chases and the second floor floor cavity, cutting access panels in strategic locations rather than opening whole walls. Where plaster had to come out we saved the trim, numbered it, and reinstalled it after.

Abatement ran three weeks in the front of the schedule while windows and cabinetry were on order, so the delay cost us nothing in the end. The pocket doors were stripped, repaired and rehung on new hardware.