Who does exterior painting in New Salem, MA?
EA Paint & Light Carpentry, Inc. does exterior painting in New Salem, MA, from Northborough, about 36 miles away. The median New Salem home was built in 1971 and 65% predate 1980, so the preparation drives the price more than the square footage. One insured crew paints and replaces rotted wood on the same written estimate. Call (508) 466-5846.
What New Salem houses are built out of — and why it changes the price
New Salem has about 528 homes across 44.8 square miles of Franklin County, and the median one was built in 1971. That makes it a largely seventies and early-eighties town: splits, raised ranches and garrison colonials, with rough-sawn cedar or T1-11 plywood siding and the first generation of pressure-treated decks. 65% of the housing here went up before 1980 and 93% of the buildings are detached single-family homes.
That is not trivia. It decides which products go on the wall, how many hours the preparation takes, and whether the job is governed by the federal lead rule. An estimate for exterior painting that does not start from the age of the house is a guess with a number attached.
Exterior Painting on a seventies and early-eighties house
Chalk has to be bound, not painted over
Run a hand down an old oil-based wall of this age and it comes away powdery. That chalk is a release layer — paint over it and the new coat is stuck to dust. It gets washed back and then sealed with a penetrating bonding primer, which is a step that costs money and is invisible, and is exactly why a cheap exterior fails in year three.
T1-11 and rough-sawn cedar
Plywood siding of this era delaminates along the grooves and swells at the bottom edge where it was cut short of the flashing. Rough-sawn cedar drinks two to three times the paint a smooth board does, and any estimate that prices it the same has not looked at the house.
Decks that were new when the house was
The first generation of pressure-treated decking is now fifty years old. Sound framing under failed boards is common and worth keeping; failed framing under sound boards is common too, and more dangerous. Both get checked before anything is quoted.
Free on-site estimate in New Salem, with the prep itemized rather than assumed.
Lead paint in New Salem
About 65% of New Salem's homes predate 1980, so on most jobs here the age of the house decides how the work runs before anything else does. Federal law treats housing built before 1978 as lead-bearing, and disturbing paint in one means contained prep, HEPA extraction and wet methods rather than dry scraping. It is slower and it is not optional. Ask any contractor bidding your job how they intend to handle it — the answer tells you a great deal.
What is included
- Clapboard, cedar shingle and shake siding
- Vinyl and aluminum siding (paintable formulas)
- Trim, corner boards, window casings and sills
- Soffits, fascia, rake boards and frieze
- Front doors, storm doors and shutters
- Porches, columns, railings and ceilings
- Garage doors and overhangs
- Foundation, bulkheads and lattice
How far New Salem is
New Salem is about 36 miles from Northborough — about an hour out, which is toward the edge of where we work. We come out here for full exteriors, whole-house interiors and carpentry that is worth a crew's week — not for a single bedroom, because the drive would cost you more than the painting. The estimate is still free, and if the job is too small to be worth your money we will say so on the phone.
Written, itemized, fixed price. Nothing discovered in week three.
The rest of what we do in New Salem
- Interior Painting in New Salem
- Light Carpentry & Wood Repair in New Salem
- Cabinet Painting & Refinishing in New Salem
- Power Washing & Deck Staining in New Salem
Or see everything on the New Salem page, and the full exterior painting page for how we work generally.
Exterior Painting in nearby towns
Petersham · Pelham · Hardwick · Athol · Orange · Phillipston