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Loading content, please wait.Century siding in Stuart and Vine, Tudors on Westnedge Hill, and newer builds across town, hand-prepped and painted to last.
or call us directly at (269) 437-0891
Close to a third of Kalamazoo's homes were built before 1940, and the city has protected the best of them for half a century. South Street became Kalamazoo's first historic district back in 1973. Stuart followed in 1976, and Vine's blocks joined the National Register in 1983. The wood siding and trim on these houses was milled in an era when detail was standard, and it deserves an exterior painter who preps by hand instead of blasting a sprayer across a hundred years of character.
If your home sits in one of the designated districts, there is a rule worth knowing: Kalamazoo's historic commission reviews changes that affect a home's exterior appearance. That is not a reason to put off a repaint. It is a reason to work with painters who know the process. We will tell you up front if your project needs sign-off from the city, and we work inside the district rules rather than around them.
Old exteriors also mean layered paint, and on pre-1940 homes those layers usually include lead. Kalamazoo runs a Lead Safe Homes program for good reason. When scraping and sanding disturb old paint, we use lead-safe work practices: ground containment, controlled scraping, and full cleanup, so old paint chips end up in bags instead of your soil and garden beds.
The craft itself is what makes an exterior last here. We wash first, scrape and sand to sound paint, spot-prime bare wood, caulk the gaps that let water behind the siding, and brush the surfaces where a brush leaves a better film. Michigan summers are humid, and shaded north walls hold moisture and grow mildew, so we treat those walls before paint goes anywhere near them.
Not every Kalamazoo exterior is a Victorian. Westnedge Hill's Tudors and Colonials, Winchell's treed lots, Oakwood, and the newer subdivisions on the edges of town all get the same approach: honest prep, quality paint, and a fixed written quote before we start. Michigan's exterior season runs roughly May through early October and fills quickly, so the best time to get a quote is before the weather turns warm.
The written quote we send spells out the exact scope. Here's the baseline of what comes with every job.
Timelines below are rough estimates. Actual schedules depend on prep, weather, the size of your job, and our current crew workload. The written quote we send locks in real dates.
If your home is in one of Kalamazoo's designated historic districts, exterior changes are reviewed by the city's historic commission. We will tell you during the estimate whether your project needs sign-off, and we are comfortable working within district guidelines. When in doubt, the city's historic preservation staff can confirm what applies to your address.
Carefully. Most pre-1940 exteriors carry lead somewhere in their paint layers, so we use lead-safe practices when old paint gets disturbed: containment under the work area, controlled scraping, and thorough cleanup. The goal is simple, nothing left behind in your soil or beds.
Whichever leaves the better finish for that surface, and on century siding and detailed trim that is usually a brush. We never spray over surfaces that should be brushed just to save time. On broad, smooth surfaces where spraying gives an even film, we spray and back-brush so the paint actually works into the wood.
Get the quote in late winter or early spring, and paint between May and early October when the weather holds warm enough for proper curing. Peeling that shows up in fall can usually wait for spring, but bare wood should at least get spot-primed before winter. We will tell you honestly which one you are looking at.
A properly prepped repaint on most siding runs 7 to 10 years. South and west walls weather fastest and may want attention sooner, while shaded sides often go longer. The biggest factor is what happens before the paint: prep quality decides whether year eight looks like year two or year twelve.
Learn more about our work and the areas we serve:
Free estimates. No pressure. Usually back within 24 hours, often same day.
