Condo Painting for Franklin, MA homeowners.

Shared-wall housing takes several forms here. Census figures show 18.0% of housing units in buildings of five or more units, including 906 units in buildings of fifty or more. Another 9.9% are single-family attached homes, the Census category for townhouse-style units, and 9.4% sit in two- to four-unit buildings. Not every one of those is a condominium, but together they account for more than a third of the town's homes.

For painting, the key question in any condo is who owns the surface. The master deed and bylaws divide the building into units and common elements, and the answer decides who approves the work, who pays and whose insurance certificate the job needs.

Units in converted mills and Downtown buildings

The town's 2025 master plan traces its manufacturing history to straw hat production starting in the 1790s and notes that by the late 1880s the Ray family owned and managed fourteen mills. It also states that many mill buildings have since been rehabilitated into commercial space, condominiums or apartments. Downtown, the plan describes some brick-faced buildings with businesses on the first floor and condominium or apartment units above.

Units in those older buildings can combine exposed brick, tall windows and heavy timber with newer drywall partitions, and each surface takes a different primer. Where original painted woodwork remains, the building's age means lead has to be considered before sanding. If you live near the center, our Downtown Franklin page describes that area, the Unionville page covers the western mill area, and the City Mills page covers the old mill village in neighboring Norfolk once called Franklin City.

Painting inside your own unit

Interior walls, ceilings and trim within a unit often fall to the owner, depending on the master deed, but some associations still require notice to management, a contractor registration or limits on work hours and hallway use. Read the rules before booking, since a missing approval can stall a start date.

If you rent your unit out, a turnover is a natural time to repaint. Renters occupy 21.8% of the town's occupied homes, and a neutral, washable finish between tenants keeps a unit ready to list.

• Walls, ceilings, doors and trim inside the unit
• Kitchen cabinets and vanities (see cabinet painting)
• Patch-and-paint after a tenant moves out
• Neutral repaints before a sale

Siding, trim and decks the association owns

Exterior siding, trim, entry doors and shared decks on a townhouse complex are often common or limited common elements, so the board, not individual owners, schedules and pays for them. A phased plan, grouped by building or by side, lets the association spread the work across seasons and match it to its reserve budget.

Lobbies, corridors and stairwells

Interior common areas such as lobbies, corridors and stairwells need a schedule that keeps at least one route open for residents, notices posted ahead of time and scrubbable low-odor finishes. If management needs a certificate of insurance naming the association before work begins, AJ Painting is licensed and insured and can supply one. In a building built before 1978, scraping or sanding common-area trim and railings should follow the practices on our lead-safe painting page.