Wood siding and window painting in Downers Grove, IL (60515)
Downers Grove is known for its surviving Sears catalog kit homes, and many still wear their original wood siding and trim. Add the Victorian and early 1900s houses near Main Street, and a lot of our work here is careful exterior wood painting.
Short answer
Exterior work in Downers Grove often centers on old-growth wood: clapboard siding, window sashes and porch trim on Sears kit homes and early 1900s houses. Siding typically runs $2.15 to $4.85 per square foot and window sashes $185 to $465 each, with lead-safe setup added for pre-1978 paint. Rot, loose glazing and the number of failed layers decide where a house lands.
How do you repaint a Sears kit home without losing what makes it original?
Kit homes shipped by rail with precut lumber, and the clapboard and trim on survivors is often old-growth wood that is denser than anything sold today. It is worth keeping. Our job is to strip away the paint that has failed, repair what has softened and recoat so that original siding lasts another cycle.
That means hand scraping and wet sanding rather than grinding, consolidating small soft spots with epoxy, and replacing only boards that are past saving with matching profiles. We prime bare wood the day it is exposed.
Near Main Street and the Tivoli Theatre, the Victorian homes call for the same respect, plus more trim to cut in: brackets, spindles, shingle gables and porch posts.
Kit homes, Victorians and the postwar ranches beyond them
Almost every house in the older part of the village predates 1978, and many predate 1920. Lead paint on siding and window trim is common, so we set up EPA lead-safe practices on every exterior there: plastic on the ground, wet scraping, no torches and no dry power sanding, and a HEPA cleanup at the end.
Original wood windows are a big part of these jobs. Glazing putty dries and falls out, sashes get painted shut, and sills catch water. We reglaze loose panes, free the sashes and paint so they still open and shed rain.
Further out, postwar ranches are simpler: less trim, more soffit and fascia, and often aluminum or newer siding that needs cleaning and the right primer before paint. Aluminum siding chalks badly with age, so we wash until the rinse water runs clear, then use a primer made for metal before two acrylic coats.
Services suited to Downers Grove houses
Focused on keeping original wood sound and painted.
Siding Painting
Original clapboard on kit homes and Victorians is scraped lead-safe, primed and coated, keeping as much old wood as possible.
Window Sash & Frame Painting
Old wood sashes get reglazed where loose and painted so they still open, close and shed water.
Lead-Safe Painting
Most of the older housing stock predates 1978, so containment and wet methods are standard.
Wood Rot Repair
Sills, porch skirts and lower clapboard courses get cut back to sound wood and rebuilt before paint.
Exterior House Painting
Victorian homes near Main Street need full repaints with multi-color trim laid out ahead of time.
Woodwork Staining & Varnishing
Inside, original oak and pine trim in older homes is cleaned and recoated so the grain stays visible.
Before you repaint an older Downers Grove home
Keep the old boards
Original siding is often better wood than any replacement. We repair and paint it instead of recommending new siding.
Glazing needs cure time
Fresh glazing putty needs days to skin over before paint. We plan window work so the glazing is ready when painters arrive.
Multi-color trim takes planning
Victorian color schemes with three or four colors are laid out on paper first so every bracket and band is agreed.
Porches are part of the job
Many older homes here have front porches with turned posts, beadboard ceilings and stepped floors. We price them as their own line so you can see what the porch adds.
Exterior season is short
Average highs only climb past 70F in May and fall back near 63F in October, so book scraping-heavy jobs early in the year. Downers Grove is one of our longer drives from Park Ridge headquarters, down I-294, so we line up multi-day exteriors to keep crews on one house.
Questions from Downers Grove
Can you repaint the original siding on a Downers Grove Sears kit home?
Yes, and we try to keep every sound board. We scrape lead-safe, repair soft spots with epoxy or matching stock, prime bare wood and apply two finish coats. Siding typically runs $2.15 to $4.85 per square foot.
Should I replace or repaint old wood windows in Downers Grove?
If the frames and sashes are sound, repainting and reglazing usually costs less and keeps the original look. We free painted-shut sashes and recoat them so they work again, typically $185 to $465 per window.
How do you paint ornate Victorian trim near Main Street in Downers Grove?
Mostly by brush, with each element in the agreed color. Brackets, spindles and shingle gables take more time than flat siding, which is reflected in the price.
What lead-safe steps do you follow on Downers Grove exteriors?
On pre-1978 homes we lay plastic on the ground, wet scrape and wet sand, skip open-flame burning and dry power sanding, and HEPA vacuum and clean before we finish. These are EPA lead-safe work practices.
Painting in Downers Grove? Call us
Call any hour. Someone picks up, takes the details and books a time to walk the job with you.