This Old House

Roadblocks to Turning a Former Chicken Coop into a Cottage - The Concord Cottage (25x2)

Air date: Oct 18, 2003

Work can't begin at the jobsite until permits are issued, so host Kevin O'Connor takes homeowner Janet Bernard to meet Concord building commissioner, John Minty, to see what potential roadblocks she's facing in trying to turn an accessory building into a full-time residence. Then, Kevin meets local architect Holly Cratsley to see a new home she designed to look like an old home, and an accompanying timber frame barn. Meanwhile, with flashlights, ladders, and archival photographs, master carpenter Norm Abram and preservation architect Leonard Baum reconstruct the architectural history of the shed, learning that the building started out as a one-story chicken coop with a hip roof, and that it is indeed older than the zoning law itself - a finding that's essential to moving forward with the town.