Exterior Painting serving Saugus and Metro West MA.

The town's 1985 reconnaissance survey by the Massachusetts Historical Commission gives a clear picture of the house forms that went up during its biggest growth spurts. Between 1870 and 1915, when population rose 355%, builders kept the gable-front form with Italianate ornament, added Queen Anne fancy shingles and porches, and put up large numbers of plain 2½-story gable-front two-family houses. Later in that period came hip-roofed foursquares with wide overhangs and Craftsman touches in brick or fieldstone.

From 1915 to 1940 new subdivisions filled with small, cottage-like houses on small lots, where gable fronts, hip-roofed houses and bungalows carried over from earlier decades. The survey notes that 2½-story Colonial Revival houses and Capes from that era are comparatively rare here. Each of those shapes has its own weak points when it comes to paint.

Where each house form tends to fail

• Gable-front two-families: a tall street-facing peak that needs staging or a lift, and stacked porches with ceilings, rails and floors on two levels
• Queen Anne shingle panels: dozens of cut edges per square foot that collect water and old paint layers, and take hand scraping rather than power washing alone
• Foursquares: wide eaves that shade the upper walls but leave long soffit and fascia runs to scrape and prime from a ladder
• Bungalows and small cottages: low rooflines that bring gutters, fascia and window trim within reach, but close neighbors that call for careful masking and drop cloths
• Craftsman brick and fieldstone elements: bare masonry next to painted wood, to be masked off rather than coated

Water, marsh and mildew

The same survey describes about two miles of marsh in the southern part of town, the Saugus River crossing the whole town from northwest to southeast, and the Pines River along the southern boundary. The Rumney Marshes Area of Critical Environmental Concern, about 2,800 acres, spans parts of Boston, Lynn, Revere, Saugus and Winthrop.

A house near open marsh or river frontage can stay damp longer after rain and dew, and shaded north walls anywhere in town can grow mildew. Mildew has to be killed and rinsed off before priming, because paint applied over live growth lets it come back through the new film. Bare wood exposed by scraping gets primed the same day where possible so it does not absorb moisture overnight.

Scraping older siding without spreading lead

With 29.4% of local housing built in 1939 or earlier, a house from that era can carry many layers of paint applied over generations. EPA's renovation rule applies to paid exterior work on pre-1978 homes that disturbs more than 20 square feet of paint. Ground plastic extends out from the wall, windows and doors nearby are closed, debris is collected daily, and dry power sanding without HEPA collection is off the table. Neighbors in tight subdivisions benefit from that containment as much as the owner. Our lead-safe painting page covers the details.

Historic review and local landmarks

The Saugus Historical Commission's published role is reviewing applications for demolition permits under the zoning bylaw and maintaining the town's cultural resources inventory with the state; repainting a house is not listed among its reviews. If a project goes beyond paint, such as removing a porch or original trim, ask the Building Department and the Commission before work begins.

Town Hall, built in 1875 to a High Victorian Gothic design, is itself a frame building, and the survey describes a hip-roofed block with a projecting frontispiece and cupola on each of its two main facades. Detail like that shows how much prep a painted wood exterior can involve beyond flat wall area.

Season and products

Acrylic house paints list a minimum surface and air temperature on the label, and late-day dew can spoil a coat that has not had time to set. The workable season is usually late spring through mid-fall; painting a house exterior in November explains what changes as nights cool. For how long a repaint should last and what shortens it, see how long exterior paint lasts in Massachusetts. If your deck or porch floor needs stain at the same time, the deck staining page covers that work.