Painting in Halifax for 25 Years!

Our thoughts on painting in Halifax, MA

Stormy Halifax winters: As a town near the South Shore, many homes experience high winds and harsh weather, especially during our winter storms and nor’easters. Halifax’s salty air can be an issue for our house coatings year-round. We suggest specific paints and stains that are engineered to help combat the winter damage to your Halifax home’s exterior. We also suggest adding a coat of paint to help protect your home’s exterior every 3-5 years – we call this a “maintenance coat,” and it is a common service we perform in Halifax and other South Shore coastal towns to keep moisture at bay and protect wood surfaces.

Cedar Shingles – on lots (and lots!) of Halifax homes: Cedar shingles have long been used as exterior siding, and they offer durability along with a time-honored New England feel. In Halifax, many homes are sided with cedar shingles that have years of existing coatings.  We have experience removing these coatings prior to painting them with a new coating. Many Halifax residents like to let their shingles weather or grey over time – this is a classic look that just gets better with age. Some Halifax customers prefer we coat their shingles with a stain that prevents the greying – it’s up to you!

But…shingles can grow mold! Yes, your cedar shingles can be a habitat for mildew and mold growth. We recommend power-washing cedar shingles with a mold-killing solvent. If your shingles face a shady side of your home, the mildew will certainly grow back again. As a precaution, we recommend trimming shady areas, so some sunshine can help dry your cedar shingles and slow down plant growth.

Rotted trim, shingles and clapboards are common on Halifax homes. Wood failure is common on Halifax exteriors due to damage by the many coastal storms and wind in our climate. Our carpenters repair rotting wood on about 50% of the houses in Halifax that we paint, so it’s a very common issue that our carpenters can repair for you before we start painting. It is important if you are painting your home yourself that you never paint over rotted wood. Not only will the paint fail to adhere, but the wood rot will get much worse very quickly as the water seeps into the wood even more.

PVC vs. Wood replacement boards – We have carpenters on staff to replace rotted wood on your Halifax home before we paint. We often replace rotted wood boards and trim with PVC material like Azek trim boards. While PVC is more expensive, you will not have to replace it again. It’s also our general practice to only replace the rotted wood boards with PVC, which when painted PVC is hard to distinguish from the existing wood on your home. To help keep costs down, we leave the non-rotted wood in place and repair only the rotten wood. Today’s PVC is available to match many historic molding styles to maintain your older Halifax home in period style – we can even replace wood gutters with a direct-match PVC gutter!

Halifax home rentals – We work with lots of Halifax property owners who rent out their homes.  We can do the work in the off-season to help keep your rentals looking great for your tenants and Airbnb guests.

Color help – we are pleased to offer both exterior and interior color consultation on every project we are hired to do.   We’ll even do a color rendering of your interior or exterior to show you how the new colo rswill look on your home’s exterior or interior.

We have a separate Commercial Painting Division, too:

Halifax businesses, medical offices, religious facilities, restaurants, property managers, shops, and facility managers have worked with CertaPro Painters for years and can ensure you only worry about running your business or community while we take care of the painting.

And if your Halifax office needs to remain open while we’re painting, we offer night and weekend work at no extra charge – this way, business is not disrupted by the painting or work we’re doing.

Our commercial department tries to understand what’s important to your business or multi-family community and matches the paint and application to those needs.  For example, we can use scuff-resistant paint in high-traffic areas like schools and microbicidal paints that actually kill germs in restrooms and at daycare centers.

To schedule a commercial painting quote or to ask us questions about your commercial painting or carpentry project, call Dave Rowell at 781-422-1018 or email him at Drowell@certapro.com.