Doylestown, Bucks County
Exterior painting in Doylestown, PA.
Fieldstone and brick, often plastered, beside porched Victorian frame and contrasting shutters, in a borough that leaves paint color to its owners. Each surface needs its own preparation.
Exterior painting for Doylestown homes
The National Register nomination for the borough's historic district counted 650 frame buildings, 345 of brick, 172 stuccoed and 84 of stone. That mix is the first fact of painting here: a single block can hold wood siding, plastered masonry and bare stone, and each takes paint differently, or should not take it at all.
The second is that color is open. The Historic Architectural Review Board, in place since 1970, reviews exterior changes that can be seen from a public street, but the borough says it does not regulate repainting or color as long as no other construction is planned. A late-Federal house or a Victorian can take on a new scheme without going before the board, which leaves the preparation as the real work.
Doylestown
Plastered fronts, contrasting shutters, frame porches
Fieldstone was the usual material before the mid-1830s, and those houses were often plastered; brick, exposed and plastered, was the choice for better houses through the mid-1800s, especially along East and West Court Streets and Broad Street. Where a front is plastered and painted, the plaster is repaired and the wall allowed to dry before a coating made for masonry goes on. Exposed brick and stone that have never carried paint are left as they are.
After the Civil War, frame came into fashion for larger houses, and neighborhoods of the 1870s to 1900, East Oakland and Maple Avenues among them, went up mostly in frame with front porches. The nomination notes contrasting shutters used regularly even there, so shutters belong to the scheme, chosen with the body and trim. Larger houses of the 1870s and 1880s took mansard roofs, which carry their window trim up into the roof itself.
Worth knowing
Beyond paint, the board
Once a job includes construction, such as new siding, replacement windows or a rebuilt porch, it goes to HARB, which normally meets on the fourth Thursday of the month. Paint can be planned around that.
Fences and stone walls
Stone walls and wood or iron fencing are distinctive features of the district. Painted fences take the same preparation as the house; the stone walls stay bare.
The township is another job
Four in five Doylestown Township homes were built between 1960 and 1999, and fewer than three in a hundred before 1940. Exteriors there are a generation or two old, not a century or two.
The work
How an exterior goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to exterior painting.
Every side, walked
Randy walks every side of the house with you, because the south wall and the north wall rarely need the same work. Both the walkthrough and the written estimate are complimentary.
Causes first
Where paint is peeling to bare wood, the source of the water is found and dealt with. Soft, rotted wood is repaired or replaced, because no paint holds on wet or decayed wood.
Washing
Dirt, mildew and chalk are washed off at a pressure that cleans without gouging the grain. The siding then dries completely before any primer or paint goes on.
Scraping and priming
Loose and flaking paint is scraped back to a firm edge. Bare wood is primed promptly, before the sun has time to weaken its surface.
Caulk where water gets in
Open joints where trim meets siding and around windows are caulked, and holes are filled. The bottom edges of lap siding are left open on purpose, so water can drain out and the boards can dry.
Paint in the right conditions
Finish coats go on when the temperature will hold for the paint, away from walls baking in full sun, and early enough to set before the evening dew. On most days that means following the shade around the house.
Questions
Exterior painting, Doylestown.
We want to replace some rotted clapboards while we repaint. Does that bring HARB in?
It can. The board leaves repainting and color alone only as long as no other construction is planned, and new siding is construction visible from the street. Check with the borough before any boards are replaced; repairing wood in place keeps a project closer to paint alone.
Our shutters have always been a contrasting color. Should we keep that?
The choice is yours, since the board does not regulate color. Contrasting shutters run through the borough's historic district, even its later Victorian streets, so keeping a contrast suits the town, and a new one can refresh a house without changing its character.
Our plastered front has hairline cracks. Can it simply be painted over?
Not well. Fine cracks are filled and wider ones repaired, because January here averages a low near 21°F, and freeze and thaw open them a little more each year and let water in behind the paint. The wall then has to be dry before a masonry coating goes on, or the new paint blisters where moisture tries to escape.
More in Doylestown
Other services here.
- Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
- Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
- Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
- Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
- Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
- Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
- Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
- Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.
Consultation
Request a private consultation.
Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.
- Hours
- Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
- Service area
- Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.