Gaithersburg grew out of a railroad stop on the old B&O line, and Olde Towne still has some of the older frame houses from that period close to the tracks. Most of the city's housing came much later. Kentlands was planned in the late 1980s as a walkable neighborhood with rowhouses, townhomes and single family houses set close to the street, and Lakelands followed next to it in the 1990s.
Those newer homes are now thirty years or more past their original builder finishes. Kitchens, primary bathrooms and flooring in Kentlands and Lakelands townhomes are often still the first versions, and a narrow townhome floor plan leaves less room to move walls. In Quince Orchard and the subdivisions around it, split levels and colonials from the 1970s and 1980s bring their own layouts and older basements.