Exterior Painting throughout Marlborough, MA.

The outside of a house takes the weather, so the questions that come first are practical ones: what the siding is made of, how much of the old coating has failed, and whether anyone outside the household gets a say in the color. Here, the answer to that last question depends on exactly where the house stands.

The city's 1994–95 historic survey recorded Federal-era brick-enders, Greek Revival temple-fronts, Second Empire mansard cottages and Queen Anne houses and duplexes, followed by the subdivisions of the 1950s and apartment complexes of the 1960s. Their siding, trim profiles and porch details call for different prep.

Wood, synthetic siding and the trim that stays wood

When the city surveyed its historic buildings in 1994–95, the most common reason a significant building failed to qualify for individual National Register listing was the installation of synthetic siding. That observation tells you two things. By the mid-1990s some older houses here were no longer clad in wood, and on those homes the painted work shifts to the trim, porches, doors and window casings that were left exposed.

Clapboard and shingle on older homes needs scraping to sound paint, feathered edges, bare-wood priming and caulk at the joints that open with the seasons. Vinyl and aluminum can be painted, but the color has to suit the material; a darker shade than the siding was made for can make vinyl warp in the sun. Where a newer house has fiber cement, the prep is usually washing and spot-priming before the topcoat.

• Peeling down to bare wood: scraped, sanded at the edges and spot-primed
• Open seams and nail holes: caulked or filled after priming
• Mildew on north walls: washed and treated before any coating
• Rotted trim boards and sills: replaced before paint, not painted over

Monument Square: color changes need a certificate

The city has one local historic district under state Chapter 40C, the Monument Square Historic District. Under the city ordinance, an exterior change visible from a public way needs a certificate from the Historic District Commission first, and "altered" expressly includes a change in exterior color. Ordinary maintenance and repair that does not fundamentally change the design or materials is exempt, so a same-color repaint may fall under that exemption, while a new color counts as an alteration.

Timing matters if you want a new palette. The commission decides within 14 days whether an application involves features it reviews, and it has up to 60 days from filing to decide. Work done without a required certificate can bring a fine of $10 to $500, with each day counted as a separate offense. Exact district boundaries are on a map kept by the City Clerk, so check there before assuming either way. Our downtown page has more on the center.

The Marlborough Center Historic District on the National Register is a different designation; the city ordinance names only Monument Square as its local district.

Scraping old paint on pre-1978 houses

Outdoors, chips and dust from scraping fall onto the soil around the foundation. Paid work on a pre-1978 home that disturbs more than 20 square feet of exterior paint falls under the EPA's renovation rule, which means ground covering, containment, and cleanup to set standards. With 56.5% of local housing built before 1980, and 20 square feet being about the face of one standard entry door, scraping the failed paint across a whole pre-1978 house can easily pass that threshold. Details are on our lead-safe painting page.

When to schedule

Paint needs dry wood and temperatures inside the label's range for application and curing, which narrows the calendar. Our posts on the best time of year to paint in Massachusetts and painting an exterior in November walk through the limits, and common exterior paint failures shows what goes wrong when they are ignored. For porches and decks, see deck staining and painting.