In these photos below we have removed all flaking paint from a Belmont, MA home. The exterior walls looked sound from a distance but up close, each shingle showed a latticework of cracked paint – in painting parlance this is called ‘alligatoring’. It reflects the failure of the coating to expand and contract with the substrate – in this case the red cedar shingles. While removing the paint is a labor intensive process, and is accompanied by the need to manage the lead hazard presented by disturbing the older lead-based paints, it ultimately affords a much more durable and long lasting finish.
On this project we chose to use shrouded Makita GV5000 grinders exhausted into HEPA vacuums; this contains 99% of the dust and debris generated. Some large particles will be captured by the ground protection we install.
Final clean up involves visual inspection of the grounds to ensure no debris is left onsite. Finish sanding of the stripped shingles is done with shrouded Porter Cable orbital sanders also exhausted into HEPA vacuums.
This is hard work – our men must wear Tyvek suit, gloves, hoods and HEPA respirators. Working in the sun is awful, so we time the work to avoid direct sunlight and fortunately the orientation of this house was forgiving. A current project offers no shade so we arranged with the owner to schedule it for the fall. Jobs like this are physically challenging for the men so we sweeten their day by buying them lunch – a token of our gratitude for their hard work.”
If you’re a homeowner living in Greater Boston, we invite you to learn more about our residential painting services.
