Historic home painting in Tacoma for Craftsman and Victorian houses

We treat every pre-1940 house as if lead may be somewhere in its paint history, then plan the prep around keeping chips and dust contained. Outside, that means heavy plastic sheeting on the ground along each wall, reaching well past the drip line, with nearby windows and doors closed. Scraping and sanding happen with misting to keep dust down, and any power sanding runs through tools fitted with HEPA vacuum shrouds. Old paint is never dry-sanded into the open air or burned off with an open flame.

Inside, we seal the work area with plastic and tape, cover the floors and close off heating registers so dust cannot travel through the ducts. Cleanup happens daily, not just at the end: wet wiping, HEPA vacuuming and bagging debris before we leave. Families with small children or a pregnancy in the house should tell us at the walk-through, because it changes how we sequence the rooms. Most of the old paint we disturb is on trim, windows and porches, where friction and weather have already loosened it.

Old-growth wood is worth fighting for. The fir and cedar in a 1910s Tacoma home grew slowly and tight, and it often outlasts new lumber when it is kept painted. So our default is repair. Soft spots at sill ends and column bases get dug out, consolidated with a penetrating epoxy and rebuilt with epoxy filler shaped to the original profile. Loose clapboards are refastened, and split shingles get swapped for new cedar at the same exposure. Replacement comes in only when a piece is too far gone.

Original wood windows deserve their own mention. Sashes painted shut, cracked glazing putty and bare sill tops are common, and they can usually be brought back. We free stuck sashes, reglaze where the putty has failed, and keep paint off the sliding edges so the window still moves. Where a profile is missing, such as a broken run of crown or a bracket, our rot and wood repair crew can shape a match by hand. The house keeps its original fabric, and the new paint has something sound to grip.

Interiors in older Tacoma homes are usually plaster on wood lath, not drywall. Plaster is hard and smooth, but after a century of settling it carries fine cracks, and some sections may have pulled away from the lath. We check by pressing gently and tapping. Loose areas get secured with plaster washers and adhesive, cracks get taped with mesh and a setting compound, and each patch is feathered into the old surface. Flat or matte paint suits these walls, because a higher sheen shows every wave in hand-troweled plaster.

The woodwork is the other half. Many Craftsman interiors still have original stained fir casings, beams and built-in buffets, while Victorians often have painted trim with deep profiles clogged by old layers. Stained woodwork in good condition is usually best kept stained and refreshed, which our interior staining work covers. Painted trim gets cleaned, tested and primed with a bonding product suited to old oil paint. Picture rail, plate rail and wainscot caps get hand-brushed, since spraying near plaster and leaded glass is more risk than reward.