Exterior Painting right here in Bellingham, Massachusetts.

Exterior paint is attacked from two sides. Sun breaks down the binder on south and west walls, while moisture moving through the wall from kitchens, baths and damp basements pushes paint off from behind. On a house that has been repainted many times, the layers also become thick and brittle, and they crack where boards expand and contract.

That history is long here. The median local house was built in 1973, and roughly 4,141 units, about 62% of the total, predate 1980. A house that has stood for 50 years has had time for many repaints, and where the layers have built up, the next job can be more about removing what has failed than about adding color.

Scraping old paint without spreading lead

Lead-based paint was sold for residential use until 1978. On a home built before that year, the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies once paid work disturbs more than 20 square feet of exterior paint, which a full repaint easily does. The practical differences: ground covered with plastic sheeting extending out from the wall, no power sanding or grinding unless the tool has a shroud with HEPA exhaust, no open-flame burning, and chips and debris contained at the end of each work day.

Those rules keep lead chips out of the soil around the foundation, not just away from the crew. The lead-safe painting page shows the setup in detail. On houses built in 2000 or later, which are about 18% of the town's units, lead is not a concern, and prep usually centers on cleaning, caulking and spot-priming.

Water, low ground and mildew

The Charles River runs through town, and a USGS gauge sits below Box Pond. Along the river, more than 500 acres are protected as part of the Army Corps of Engineers' Charles River Natural Valley Storage flood-control project, the area a Bellingham, Franklin and Medway group calls the Charles River Meadowlands. Local history also records several man-made ponds built on former swampland to support industry.

Lots near water or wetland, and any wall in shade, stay damp longer after rain and dew. Damp siding grows mildew, and paint applied over mildew peels. The fix is to wash with a mildewcide cleaner, let the wood dry thoroughly, prime bare spots and use a finish with mildew resistance. Keeping shrubs trimmed back from the siding and gutters clear helps the new coat last.

Historic houses and town review

Bellingham's Historical Commission, a town board since 1972, works to protect the town's historic structures and runs the Ernest A. Taft Jr. Historical Museum on Common Street. The town's boards list does not include a Historic District Commission, the type of board that reviews exterior changes inside a local historic district. If you own one of the oldest homes, about 12% of units date to 1939 or earlier, a call to the Historical Commission before removing or replacing original trim or features is a sensible first step.

On those older houses, wood details such as corner boards, window casings and cornices take more hand prep than flat siding.

Timing the work

Most exterior paints need surface and air temperatures above roughly 50°F, with some formulas rated lower, and a dry window long enough for the coat to cure before dew or rain. In eastern Massachusetts that generally points to late spring through early fall, with the exact limits set by the product label and the forecast. Our post on whether a house can be painted in November covers the late-season limits, and common exterior paint failures explains peeling, blistering and chalking in more detail. Deck boards and railings are covered on the Bellingham deck staining page.