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The 1890 Oakwood Project: Rebuilding History by Hand

When water and time take their toll on 136 years of history, it takes more than standard contracting to make things right — it takes craftsmanship.

Some projects are jobs. Others are responsibilities. When Integrity Roofing & Restoration was called to address deterioration at a Historic Oakwood home built in 1890, the team understood they weren’t just replacing boards — they were preserving a piece of Raleigh’s architectural identity.

What started as an assessment of water damage quickly revealed the full scope of what 136 years can quietly do to a home. The front porch substructure had failed, decorative columns were deteriorating throughout, and the original ornamental millwork — the kind of hand-carved detail you simply cannot find in a lumber yard today — was crumbling at its edges. This was going to take patience, skill, and a commitment to historical accuracy that most contractors don’t offer.

“You can imagine how much water damage can develop after 136 years.”

Starting from the ground up

Before any restoration work could begin, the team had to address the structural foundation of the front porch. The framing had deteriorated significantly, requiring a full tear-out and rebuild of the floor system. New pressure-treated lumber was installed alongside proper drainage vapor barrier beneath — a modern solution discreetly integrated to protect against the kind of moisture intrusion that had silently done its damage over the past century.

Once the structural shell was sound, attention turned to one of the most labor-intensive challenges of the entire project: the column bases. Rather than sourcing an off-the-shelf substitute, the crew hand-milled every single column base from 6″ × 6″ pressure-treated logs, cutting and shaping each one to match the exact specifications required by the existing conditions of the original structure. No two were identical. No shortcuts were taken.

Replicating what time had taken

The columns themselves were in advanced deterioration. The decorative brackets and corbels — the scrollwork and curved ornamental pieces that give a Victorian-era porch its character — couldn’t simply be ordered from a supplier. They had to be recreated from scratch.

Using jig saws and careful study of the remaining original pieces, the team hand-cut new decorative artwork to match the profile of what had existed before. Each curved scroll, each bracket arm, was traced, cut, shaped, and fitted by hand. The finished carpentry, framing, and custom artwork came out amazing.

The roof: two systems, one cohesive result

The roofing portion of this project was completed in two distinct phases. The week prior to wrapping the front porch, the team completed the shingle roof system over the main body of the house. The following week, a standing seam metal roof was installed over the front porch — a classic choice for historic homes of this era that marries durability with period-appropriate character. The dark metal profile against the home’s cream exterior creates a striking, historically sensitive contrast.

The finished result

Standing in front of the completed home, it’s hard to believe the before. The front porch, once compromised by rotted framing, failing columns, and damaged millwork — now reads as it would have at the turn of the 20th century. The restored scrollwork panels catch light cleanly. The column bases sit level and true. The freshly painted floors, the ornamental railings, the standing seam metal canopy: all of it reads as a coherent whole.

Restoring decorative ornaments on historical renovations built in the 1800s, as the team reflected, is “very tedious and meticulously rewarding.” That combination — the tedium and the reward — is exactly what separates a restoration from a renovation. Integrity Roofing & Restoration delivered both.