What is the difference between restoration and rehabbing?
Restoration takes a house back to its original design and condition. This means replacing architectural elements with duplicates rather than replacements or eliminating the element altogether. This can be painstaking because the craftsmanship that was common a hundred years ago is hard to find today. Also materials can be hard to duplicate. Things like cork floors, for example, are no longer commonly used. Some materials are no longer available or are illegal to use. Products containing asbestos for example cannot be reproduced to original specifications. Rehabbing is an entirely different interaction with a house. Rehabbing is usually done by investors trying to make a home livable for the cheapest possible price to maximize profit on resale. This means things like lighting and flooring will not be replaced with the most appropriate items or materials, but rather be rebuilt to be effective. For example, many rehabbed homes, regardless of historical significance, will have lighting tha
