Faulkner Painters — Ferry St to Dell St, Salem St to the Everett line

In the City's description, Faulkner runs from Ferry Street east to Dell Street and from Salem Street south to the Everett line. Industry arrived there in the 1800s, and a large immigrant neighborhood formed around Bryant and Cross streets that became known as Suffolk Square. Daniels Park, Lincoln Commons, Roosevelt Park and Harvard Street Park are in the neighborhood, and Malden's first community garden, started in fall 2013, sits on Railroad Avenue along the Northern Strand trail between Bryant and Faulkner streets.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission's 1980 report traces the build-out. A trolley line looped to Faulkner on Cross Street, industry spread along Eastern Avenue, and the workers' district followed the rail corridors. The report points particularly to the Faulkner and Maplewood section for its concentrations of Colonial Revival and Shingle style two-families and three-deckers, and records multi-family housing extending along Faulkner and Cross streets in the 1915–1940 period.

Census Tract 3418, which takes in addresses on Faulkner, Bryant and Dell streets (Cross Street falls in Tract 3414), shows a dense, rented stock. Two-unit buildings hold 30.6% of its 2,767 homes and three- or four-unit buildings another 19.3%, while single-family detached houses are just 10.3%. Of occupied homes, 24.4% are owner-occupied. More than half the units, 55.9%, were built in 1939 or earlier, and 80.6% before 1980.

Landlord-owned buildings with tenants in place

With 75.6% of occupied units in the tract rented, many painting jobs involve occupied apartments. Interior work has to be scheduled with the people living in each unit, and exterior work needs a clear path to every unit's entrance.

Lead rules and rental turnover

The Massachusetts Lead Law makes owners responsible for lead hazards in pre-1978 homes where a child under six lives, even if they didn't know the lead was there, and federal rules require certified firms for paint disturbance in those homes. Repainting between tenants in an older Faulkner unit is exactly the kind of job those rules cover.

Tall walls and stacked porches

A three-decker's walls run three full stories, and front and rear porches are often stacked one above another. Upper floors need staging or lifts, and each porch level has its own floor, rail and ceiling surfaces to prepare.

Side walls near the lot line

Where multi-families sit close together, side walls can be hard to reach and overspray or paint chips can land on the next property. Hand application and ground tarps on both sides of the line protect the neighbor's yard and keep lead dust contained.