Exterior Painting right here in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

The Census year-built table puts the town's median construction year at 1984, and its single biggest decade of building was the 1980s, with 824 of 3,557 housing units. The 1970s added another 612. A house from that era has stood through about four decades of New England weather, and every repaint it has had leaves another layer that the next coat has to bond to.

Nearly every house is a freestanding one: 90.8% of housing units are single-family detached. Each of its four sides faces different sun, wind and moisture.

Built-up layers on 1970s and 1980s siding

After several repaints, the paint film on clapboard and trim gets thick and stiff. When it can no longer flex with the wood through a winter, it cracks along the board edges and lifts in sheets. A fresh coat over that kind of failure sticks only as well as the loosest layer underneath it.

Good prep on a house of this age means scraping to a sound edge, sanding the ridges so they don't telegraph through, priming bare wood, and caulking open joints at corner boards and window casings. Rotted sill and trim pieces get replaced or repaired with epoxy before primer, not painted over.

• Wash to remove chalk, dirt and mildew so the new paint can grip
• Scrape and feather-sand failed areas back to firmly bonded paint
• Spot-prime bare wood and knots; replace rot instead of filling around it
• Two finish coats on the faces that take the most sun

Lead paint on houses built before 1978

The Census counts 41.2% of the town's housing units as built before 1980. That Census cutoff falls two years after the 1978 federal ban on lead in residential paint, so the pre-1978 share is slightly smaller. On those houses the older layers under today's paint may contain lead, and dry scraping or power sanding them throws dust into the soil around the foundation, where children and pets play.

Federal EPA rules require lead-safe work practices when a contractor disturbs paint on a pre-1978 home: containment sheeting on the ground, misting, careful cleanup and proper disposal. Our lead-safe painting page explains what that looks like on a job.

Wetlands, rivers and slow-drying walls

The Charles, Stop and Mill rivers, along with Stony Brook and Cress Brook, run through town, and the town's draft master plan describes a long history of flooding tied to wetlands and other water features. A house that sits near one of those areas, or backs up to woods, can keep its north and shaded walls damp well into the day.

Damp siding is where mildew grows and where paint blisters when moisture pushes out from behind it. Before choosing a product, it helps to look at what is wetting the wall: gutters that overflow, sprinkler heads aimed at the clapboards, or shrubs touching the house. Fixing those keeps a new finish from failing early.

Historic districts and older houses

Norfolk has three National Register historic districts, including Rockwood Road and Sullivan's Corner at the junction of Main, Needham and Seekonk streets, plus 343 historic and cultural sites inventoried with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The National Park Service states that Register listing alone places no restrictions on a private owner unless federal funding or permitting is involved, though state or local rules can still apply.

One local rule to know about is the town's demolition delay bylaw for buildings 75 years or older, which concerns tearing a structure down rather than repainting it. If you own one of the three properties in town that carry a preservation restriction, read that document before changing colors or materials.

Timing the work

Exterior paint needs dry surfaces and temperatures that stay above the product's minimum through the night it cures. Late spring through early fall gives the widest window, and fall work is possible on mild, dry stretches; see painting a house exterior in November for the limits. If the deck is due as well, deck staining in Norfolk can be scheduled around the same dry weather.