New Hope, Bucks County
Exterior painting in New Hope, PA.
A river town of stone, brick and tall Italianate frame, where painting in the historic district needs the borough's certificate first. Colors are settled early, and houses by the water wait for dry walls.
Exterior painting for New Hope homes
Painting is named outright in the borough's rules. A Certificate of Appropriateness is required for any change to an exterior facade in the New Hope Borough Historic District, painting included; the Historic Architectural Review Board recommends, Borough Council issues the certificate, and no exterior work visible from a public street starts before then.
The board and Council weigh general design, mass, arrangement, texture, material and color, so the decisions that come last elsewhere come first here: which colors, which finish, which surfaces get paint at all. Settling them early, and leaving room for the review, keeps a house from losing its painting season to the calendar.
New Hope
Stone, tall Italianate frame, and a river that rises
A 1984 survey for the National Register put the borough's buildings at about 30 percent stone, 20 percent brick and half frame, with many of the surviving 18th-century houses in stone. Stone and brick that have stood bare since they were built are left that way. The frame carries the painting, and some of it is tall: the Italianate houses near Bridge and Ferry Streets, built between 1860 and 1876, are three stories of frame under deep, bracketed cornices.
The land climbs steeply from the Delaware, so flooding belongs to the houses along the river and Ingham Creek, not to the whole town. For those houses it is real. The river gauge at New Hope recorded major floods in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and its record crest, more than 24 feet, came with Hurricane Diane in August 1955. After high water, the painting waits for the drying.
Worth knowing
The whole scheme at once
Because the certificate covers the change itself, body, trim, door and shutter colors are best decided together before applying, not one at a time from the ladder.
Cornices three stories up
Bracketed cornices on the tall frame houses take the most weather and are the hardest to reach. Staging for them is planned before work begins.
Solebury's fieldstone
Solebury Township, around the borough, still has more than 400 houses from the 1700s and 1800s, and traditional fieldstone houses are common there. On those, the painting is in the sash, doors, shutters and cornices.
The work
How an exterior goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to exterior painting.
Every side, walked
Randy walks every side of the house with you, because the south wall and the north wall rarely need the same work. Both the walkthrough and the written estimate are complimentary.
Causes first
Where paint is peeling to bare wood, the source of the water is found and dealt with. Soft, rotted wood is repaired or replaced, because no paint holds on wet or decayed wood.
Washing
Dirt, mildew and chalk are washed off at a pressure that cleans without gouging the grain. The siding then dries completely before any primer or paint goes on.
Scraping and priming
Loose and flaking paint is scraped back to a firm edge. Bare wood is primed promptly, before the sun has time to weaken its surface.
Caulk where water gets in
Open joints where trim meets siding and around windows are caulked, and holes are filled. The bottom edges of lap siding are left open on purpose, so water can drain out and the boards can dry.
Paint in the right conditions
Finish coats go on when the temperature will hold for the paint, away from walls baking in full sun, and early enough to set before the evening dew. On most days that means following the shade around the house.
Questions
Exterior painting, New Hope.
Our house is in Solebury, just outside the borough. Does the certificate rule apply?
The borough's Certificate of Appropriateness covers its own historic district. Solebury Township is a separate municipality, so ask the township what, if anything, applies to an exterior change there before the work is scheduled.
Our house took on water when the river came up. When can the outside be painted?
Once the wood and masonry are dry through, which the weather and the wall decide, not the calendar. Paint over damp siding or stucco blisters and peels, so the drying is checked before primer, and soft wood found along the way is replaced first.
Can the stucco on an old stone house in the district be painted?
Stucco that already carries paint can be repainted once cracks are repaired and the wall is dry, with the certificate in hand. Stucco that has never been painted is a bigger decision, because paint on masonry is very hard to undo, and in the district it is a change the board reviews like any other.
More in New Hope
Other services here.
- Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
- Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
- Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
- Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
- Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
- Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
- Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
- Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.
Consultation
Request a private consultation.
Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.
- Hours
- Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
- Service area
- Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.