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Essex County
Swampscott's housing is mostly prewar and postwar. Forty-one percent of units were built before 1940, 33% from 1940 to 1979 and 14% in 2000 or later; the median unit dates to 1955 (ACS B25034). Detached houses are 53% of units, two- to four-unit buildings 23% and buildings of five or more 19% (ACS B25024). Seventy-six percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied and about 4% of units are seasonal (ACS B25004).
In 2014 Swampscott designated local historic districts for the Olmsted Subdivision, the Frederick Law Olmsted Historic District and the Swampscott Cemetery, according to the MHC inventory. Massachusetts law lets the district commission review exterior features visible from a public way, doors included (MGL c.40C §5 and §6). If your house is in the Olmsted area, ask the historic commission before you change a garage door that can be seen from the street. The Olmsted Subdivision is also on the National Register (MHC inventory).
Nearly a quarter of units are in two- to four-family buildings, many with a shared detached garage behind the house. Those garages often have narrow doors on old extension springs. We add safety cables, replace springs and fit new doors sized to the opening.
Swampscott is on the state coastal-communities list (Massachusetts CZM). Close to the ocean, salt air rusts springs, cables, hinges and bottom brackets. Galvanized hardware and nylon rollers last longer, and a yearly tune-up catches corrosion before a cable fails.
Pre-1940 garages often have little space above the opening. Low-headroom track and a wall-mount opener can solve that without rebuilding the header.
The state home improvement chart marks a replacement garage door as a maybe for a building permit and a new installation as a yes (mass.gov). We confirm with the town before the job.
We install Clopay, Garaga, Wayne Dalton and Amarr doors and repair LiftMaster, Chamberlain and Genie openers.
Swampscott is in Essex County. Nearby towns: Lynn, Marblehead, Salem. See carriage house doors. Call (781) 602-0737, or see emergency service.
