Randy’s Painting & Drywall

Newtown, Bucks County

Wood staining in Newtown, PA.

The borough's Victorian frame houses meet the street with porches; the township's houses, most built since 1980, keep their decks behind. Borough and township draw their review lines differently.

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A Victorian front porch with white rails, painted posts, a green front door with an oval glass panel, and hanging baskets.
A Victorian porch: painted rails and posts.

Wood staining for Newtown homes

Porches carry the borough's Queen Anne houses: on North Lincoln Avenue they run along the front and side on turned posts, in the district's later extensions, where about three-quarters of the buildings are frame. Floors, steps and the bottoms of those posts are the wood that weathers fastest, because water sits on every flat surface and at every joint.

Out in Newtown Township, about eight in ten homes date from 1980 or later, and the township's population roughly quadrupled between 1980 and 2000. A deck built with one of those houses has seen three or four decades, and the state of its boards decides whether staining is still the right answer or a few of them should be replaced first.

Newtown

Turned posts in the borough, decks in the township

A review board oversees the borough's historic district, looking at exterior changes visible from a public street or sidewalk, including repair that is not in kind and replacement with something new. Color it leaves alone entirely, and like-for-like replacement is outside its review. Its standing advice for porches is to repair them whenever possible and replace in kind when not, so a worn floor relaid in matching boards and refinished stays clear of review.

The township is a separate jurisdiction with its own historic district ordinance. That ordinance exempts painting in the same color but lists no exemption for a change, so an owner there switching from paint to stain, or to a new color, should ask the township first. Outside any district, a township deck comes down to practical questions: how much sun it gets, what finish it carries and how the boards have held up.

A wide Victorian porch with white rails, painted posts and dark wooden steps leading up to the front door.
Porch, rails and steps.

Worth knowing

  1. Two sets of rules

    The borough's board does not look at color at all; the township exempts only repainting in the same color. Know which side of the line the house is on before choosing a new finish.

  2. Decks from the building boom

    On a deck from the 1980s or 1990s, loose rail posts and lifted fasteners are checked along with the boards. Stain is the last step, not the first.

  3. Front porch, side porch

    A side porch and a front porch on the same house can face very different light. The shadier one holds damp and needs more cleaning; the sunnier one loses its color sooner.

The work

How the work goes

The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to wood staining.

A worker in yellow rain gear pressure-washing a deck beside a covered grill and white railings.
Washing a deck.

  1. The walkthrough

    Randy looks at the wood with you: what finish is on it now, how it has weathered, which boards take the full sun. The walkthrough is complimentary, and so is the written estimate.

  2. Cleaning

    Dirt, mildew and loose gray fibers come off with a cleaner and gentle washing; too much pressure furs and gouges the soft grain. On cedar, redwood and oak, no steel wool or steel brushes, which leave dark iron stains in the wood.

  3. Old film removed

    Where solid stain or paint has peeled on a deck, the loose film is stripped or sanded away. A penetrating stain cannot soak through an old film, and a new film over a failing one peels with it.

  4. Drying

    The wood dries fully before any stain goes on, usually a couple of dry days after washing, longer in shade. Stain on damp wood soaks in unevenly and fails sooner.

  5. Brushed in by hand

    Penetrating stain goes on by brush, a few boards at a time with a wet edge to avoid lap marks, out of hot sun where possible. The wood gets only what it will absorb, and any excess left on the surface is wiped off.

  6. Recoating

    A penetrating finish is renewed with a cleaning and a fresh coat, no stripping. Shaded parts of a deck can go longer between coats than the boards in full sun.

Questions

Wood staining, Newtown.

Does the borough's review board care what color we stain our porch floor?

No. The Newtown Borough board does not review colors for any project. What it does review, for work visible from a public street or sidewalk, is repair that is not in kind and replacement with new materials, so relaying the floor in something other than wood is a question for the board.

We live in Newtown Township's historic district. Can we change our porch from paint to stain?

Ask the township first. Its ordinance exempts painting in the same color, but a change of color or finish is not on that list, so the work may need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Board of Supervisors after the township's review board weighs in.

The stained woodwork in our borough Victorian has gone dark and dull. Can it be brought back without stripping?

Sometimes. If the finish is only dirty and dull, cleaning and a fresh clear coat bring it back while keeping its age. If it has crazed or worn through to bare wood, it comes off, and the wood is restained to match the rest of the room.

More in Newtown

Other services here.

  1. Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
  2. Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
  3. Plaster repairCracked, loose and failing plaster in older homes, repaired and made sound.
  4. Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
  5. Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
  6. Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
  7. Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
  8. Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
  9. Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.

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.

Randy’sPainting & DrywallReply card
The project
Preferred contact

Walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary.