Remodeling Contractor in New Albany, IN
New Albany was a river and shipbuilding town before Louisville’s suburbs existed, and it still has the housing stock to prove it. Mansion Row and East Spring Street hold some of the best nineteenth-century architecture on either side of the Ohio. Cedar Bough Place was a prestige address at the turn of the century. Then it steps forward in layers — foursquares and shotguns near downtown, 1950s and 60s ranches and Colonial Revivals out toward Green Valley and Charlestown Road, and newer subdivisions past the ring roads. Remodeling an 1880s brick on East Main and remodeling a 1962 ranch on Green Valley Road are two different trades.
Nest Construction works both. Licensed and insured, eleven years in business, 255+ completed jobs.
What the old New Albany houses need
Masonry, and the mortar mistake. Nineteenth-century brick was laid with soft lime mortar and it’s meant to move. When someone repoints it with modern hard Portland mortar, the mortar stops giving and the brick face spalls off instead. If your house is pre-1900 masonry, the repointing spec matters more than the price per foot. We match to the existing.
Plaster, lath, and balloon framing. Wood lath and lime plaster on the older houses, and long uninterrupted stud bays running floor to attic. That makes running new plumbing and duct easier than in modern framing, and it makes fire blocking part of the job when we open a wall.
Original sash. Tall double-hungs with weights and pulleys, wavy glass, and usually decades of paint. On historic-district houses, replacing them outright is often the wrong answer both practically and procedurally. Rebuilt sash, new ropes, reglazing and a good storm gets you most of the way for a lot less friction.
The infrastructure. Cast iron drain stacks, galvanized supply, knob-and-tube that survives in attic runs and closed walls, and panels that have been added onto three times. Kitchens in these houses are also usually in the wrong place — a small back room off the rear of the plan, sometimes in what used to be a summer kitchen or a porch enclosure. Opening that to the dining room is the most common project we do downtown.
One bathroom. A lot of these houses still run one full bath, often carved out of a bedroom in the 1930s. Adding a second usually works best stacked near the existing stack, or in the rear addition where the plumbing already runs.
Termites and grade. Southern Indiana has real termite pressure and a lot of old houses sit low to grade with soil piled against the sill. We check sill plates and joist ends at the perimeter before quoting any floor or wall work.
And the newer side of town
Out toward Green Valley, Green Valley Heights, Mount Tabor and the streets off Grant Line and Charlestown Road, the housing is mostly 1950s through 1980s. Different list: closed galley kitchens, single hall baths with mortar-bed tile, thin attic insulation, load-bearing center walls people want opened up, and hardboard siding at the end of its life on the later ones. Silver Hills adds hillside conditions — grade, drainage and retaining walls that need attention before anything cosmetic happens.
Services we offer in New Albany
- Kitchen remodels — opening up rear kitchens, cabinets, counters, tile
- Bathroom remodels — full gut and replace, adding a second bath
- Whole-home renovations, historic rehabs, additions and new construction
- Siding, soffit, fascia, porch and exterior repair
- Fences, decks and porches
- Tile and flooring, drywall and plaster repair, trim and custom carpentry, painting
Permits and historic review in Floyd County
Inside city limits, permits come from the City of New Albany Building Department, filed through the city’s online SmartGov portal. Outside city limits, it’s the Floyd County Department of Building and Development Services, which requires an application package with site plans and building plans. We confirm which jurisdiction your address falls in before anything gets filed.
The second layer is historic review. New Albany has a Historic Preservation Commission and a preservation chapter in the city code covering its historic and conservation districts. If you’re in Mansion Row, East Spring Street, Cedar Bough Place, the Downtown district or a conservation district, exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before a permit. The local ordinance reaches further than most people expect — it addresses exterior paint colors as well as materials, windows, siding and additions. Interior work isn’t reviewed. Plan the review time into the schedule and it’s a non-event. Skip it and you get a stop-work order.
Areas we serve in and around New Albany
Mansion Row, East Spring Street, Cedar Bough Place, Hedden’s Grove, downtown and uptown New Albany, Silver Hills, Mount Tabor, Green Valley and Green Valley Heights, the Grant Line Road and Charlestown Road corridors, and Floyd County addresses outside the city.
Licensed, insured, and local
Eleven years in business. 255+ completed projects. 4.9 stars from 143 reviews on Thumbtack and 5.0 on Google. Licensed and insured — we send certificates before you sign anything. We’re ten minutes across the bridge, not four states away. Built Right. Built To Last.
Get a written estimate
Call Gil at (502) 821-9118 or email Office@nestconstructionky.com. Contact us here.
New Albany FAQs
Do I need approval before I paint or re-side my historic house?
If it’s in one of New Albany’s historic or conservation districts, yes. The preservation ordinance covers exterior work and even addresses paint colors. You’ll need a Certificate of Appropriateness before the building permit.
Who issues my building permit — the city or Floyd County?
The City of New Albany Building Department if you’re inside city limits; Floyd County Building and Development Services if you’re outside them. We check the address first.
Should I replace the original windows in a downtown house?
Often no. Restoring the sash with new ropes, reglazing and a good storm performs well, costs less than people assume, and avoids a fight with historic review. We’ll give you both numbers.
Can you move the kitchen in an 1880s house?
Yes, and it’s often worth it. Balloon-framed walls make new supply, waste and duct runs more workable than in a modern house. The cost driver is the drain routing and the venting, so that’s what we look at first.