South Philadelphia rowhome: full renovation, April to August 2025

The house

A two-story brick rowhome in South Philadelphia, the kind built by the thousand a century ago: about sixteen feet wide, a shared wall on each side, a straight staircase in the middle of the plan, a kitchen at the back and a basement under all of it. The owner wanted to keep the house and replace almost everything inside it.

That is a different job from a kitchen or a bathroom. In a rowhome every room depends on the one next to it. The staircase sets where the hallway goes. The kitchen sits against the party wall, so there is only one wall to run plumbing on. The basement decides where a drain can go. If you do the rooms in the wrong order you end up opening finished walls twice.

The plan

We wrote the sequence before we swung a hammer:

1. Demolition and structural work, including the old staircase.
2. New stair stringers, so the crew had a safe way between floors for the rest of the job.
3. Replacement windows, so the house was sealed before drywall.
4. Wiring and plumbing with licensed trades, then inspections.
5. Drywall, then floors, then kitchen and bathrooms.
6. Paint, trim and the finished stair parts last, so nothing got scratched.
7. The front door, railings and the back yard at the very end.

Month by month

April. The first floor came down to the studs. The old staircase, worn and steeper than code allows today, came out with it.

May. New stringers went in and we set temporary pine treads so the stair could be used as a work stair. The old window openings got new vinyl replacement windows. Drywall went up on the first floor.

June. Vinyl plank flooring went down across the first floor in one continuous run from the front room to the kitchen, which makes a narrow house feel wider than it is. Drywall was finished and primed.

July. The staircase got its finished oak treads, painted white risers, an oak newel and handrail, and iron balusters. The kitchen cabinets were installed. Out back the crew built a cedar privacy fence with a matching planter box and stained both.

August. Quartz counters and the tile backsplash finished the kitchen. Both bathrooms were tiled and fitted. The basement was carpeted, with a drop ceiling and louvered closet doors. The front got a new entry door with an oval glass panel and new iron railings. Final paint throughout.

What changed for the owner

The house went from a dark, chopped-up floor plan to an open first floor with an electric fireplace wall, a kitchen with storage to the ceiling, two bathrooms that are finished the same way instead of one new and one old, and a basement that is usable living space instead of storage. Outside, the black-framed windows and the fence changed how the house reads from the street and from the yard.

Three lessons for rowhome owners

Fix the stairs first, not last. Everyone wants to start with the kitchen. The stairs are the one thing that touches every floor, and a new staircase is far easier to build in an empty house.

Check the basement before you finish anything. We looked at the walls and the floor for moisture before the rest of the plan was set. If a basement needs drainage work, it needs it before carpet and drywall, not after.

Order windows and doors early. Replacement windows for old masonry openings are made to size and can take weeks. We measured in April so they were on site when the drywall crew needed the house sealed.

See the parts of this project

The staircase, the kitchen and the two bathrooms each have their own write-up with more photos. The links are below.