Braintree Highlands Painters — Wildwood Ave, South St & the Highlands grid

The Highlands sits in the southern part of Braintree, around Highlands Elementary on Wildwood Avenue. Its roots go back further than its houses: the Massachusetts Historical Commission's 1979 town survey names it as an early settlement site, "The Plantation" of Rev. Samuel Niles in 1712, on land later occupied by the Norfolk County Hospital. The same survey says the area was laid out as a grid in the 1870s but not built up until the 20th century.

When building did come, it arrived in the suburban wave that pushed out from Boston between the world wars. The survey calls Braintree's suburban houses of the 1920s and 1930s modest historic-revival designs and notes some Moderne examples in the Highlands.

Census Tract 4196.02, which contains the school and South Street, shows how the rest filled in. Of its 2,317 housing units, 676 (29.2%) date from the 1950s alone, and 57.3% were built between 1940 and 1969. Only 80 units predate 1940. Another 28.5% went up in the 1980s and 1990s. The tract is 82.7% single-family detached houses, and 95.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, so in this tract the person deciding on paint is usually the person living in the house.

Two generations of houses on one street

With roughly two-thirds of tract units built before 1980 and over a quarter from 1980–1999, a postwar house can sit next to one built forty years later. The older one may hold lead paint under newer coats; the newer one was built after the 1978 federal ban. Testing decides how prep is done, and our lead-safe painting page explains the rules for pre-1978 homes.

A few Moderne houses among revival designs

The 1979 survey's mention of Moderne houses here describes a minority, not the norm. The style is known for smooth, flat wall surfaces with little trim, and a smooth flat wall shows every patch and roller lap, so prep and sheen choice carry more weight there than on clapboard. A revival-style house from the same decades puts more of the effort into its trim.

Midcentury interiors

With 57.3% of tract units built from 1940 to 1969, many interiors here date from the years when plaster was giving way to drywall. Plaster, early drywall and original wood trim each take primer differently, and trim from that era may carry oil-based enamel that latex will not grip without a bonding primer. See interior painting in Braintree.

Yards, decks and attached homes

The tract counts 212 single-family attached units alongside its detached houses. Attached homes may share walls, fences or trim lines with a neighbor, and if yours belongs to an association, its documents may set exterior color rules. For backyard wood, see deck painting and staining in Braintree.