Maplewood Painters — Maplewood Square, Lebanon St and the Highlands

Maplewood sits about a mile east of downtown Malden, according to the City, with Maplewood Square, a cluster of shops and restaurants, at its heart. Trafton, Roosevelt and South Broadway parks are in the neighborhood, and the Northern Strand bike trail passes through on its route to the sea.

The state's 1980 reconnaissance report explains how it took shape. Electric trolleys ran east along the Pleasant–Salem Street line with a branch at Maplewood along Lebanon Street, and early-20th-century streetcar extensions laid a residential grid across the Maplewood highlands, lined with two-family and three-decker housing along the Salem Street axis. The report singles out concentrations of Colonial Revival and Shingle style two-families and triple-deckers in the Faulkner and Maplewood section, and notes that the square itself held a few well-detailed two- and three-story brick commercial buildings from the 1890s.

Census Tract 3417, which takes in addresses on Lebanon, George, Bowman and Salem streets, is older and more owner-occupied than Malden overall. Of its 2,270 homes, 63.2% predate 1940 (city: 45.1%) and 87.5% predate 1980. Single-family detached houses account for 48.9% of units and two-unit buildings 28.1%, and 65.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, against 41.3% citywide. The City's open space plan also puts elevations above 280 feet in the Maplewood Highlands.

Shingle style surfaces

Where a Shingle style house still has its wood shingle walls, keep in mind that shingles have far more edges and end grain than clapboard, so they soak up primer and paint unevenly and hold moisture at the butts. Scraping, spot-priming and back-brushing shingles takes longer per square foot than flat siding, which matters when you compare bids.

Colonial Revival trim

Columns, pilasters, porch railings and cornice returns are where the time goes on a Colonial Revival facade. Splits at column bases and joints in built-up cornices should be repaired and caulked before the finish coat, or the paint will crack along the same lines within a few seasons.

Three stories of porch on a triple-decker

A three-decker's stacked porches mean three floors of decking, rails and ceilings, plus a height that calls for staging rather than ladders on the upper levels. Each floor's porch floor needs a coating rated for foot traffic, not wall paint.

Hilltop exposure

Part of this neighborhood sits on the Maplewood Highlands. On any open, unshaded lot, south- and west-facing walls take the most UV and tend to fade and chalk first, so check those sides when deciding whether a repaint is due.