Rafter tails and eave brackets
Exposed rafter ends and decorative brackets under deep eaves are end grain pointing at the weather, and they are usually the first wood to soften.
Historic and Craftsman Home Painting in Rancho Cucamonga
Rancho Cucamonga Elite Painting is a trusted San Bernardino County specialist in historic home painting in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, specializing in lead-safe paint preparation, wood siding and trim repair, and multi-color Craftsman schemes. We offer porch column and bracket restoration and double-hung window sash painting.
- Free on-site estimate
- Written scope, coat by coat
- Colors you approve first
Get a free painting estimate
Or call (909) 922-1329. Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
About our historic & Craftsman home painting
Our team provides wet hand scraping inside plastic containment, delivering period-correct painting on bungalows and older buildings for both residential and commercial projects. The crew that walks your older house is the crew that paints it, and we write the containment, every wood repair, the primer and each coat into the scope before work begins.
From wet-feathering the scraped edges on lap siding to the final coat on the porch ceiling, our team handles every detail. Serving Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Claremont, we plan the work on an older house around the people who live in it.
Why Rancho Cucamonga Elite Painting
How We Work
No salesperson hands you to a stranger. The person who measures the job answers for it.
Written scopePrep, primer and finish coats listed surface by surface
Colors firstSamples on your wall, and association submittals prepared for review
One crewThe crew that quotes the job is the crew that paints it
CA License #585047Licensed, insured and bonded
Lead paint and pre-1978 houses
If your house was built before 1978, its older coats of paint should be treated as if they contain lead until a test says otherwise. The federal ban on lead paint in homes took effect in 1978, so anything painted earlier may have it buried under newer layers, and scraping or sanding turns those layers into dust.
The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in homes, child care facilities and preschools built before 1978. What that means on your house is a set of lead-safe work practices, and our written scope lists each one so you can check it happening:
- Contain the work area: floors and anything that cannot be moved are covered with heavy plastic and tape, and doors and heating and cooling vents are sealed off.
- Keep dust down: wet scraping and wet sanding, or sanders fitted with HEPA vacuum attachments.
- Skip the banned shortcuts: no open-flame burning, and no power tools without HEPA exhaust control.
- Clean thoroughly: HEPA vacuuming, wet wiping and wet mopping before the plastic comes down.
Children are the reason this matters. Lead dust damages a developing nervous system, and paint chips taste sweet, so small children put them in their mouths. Pregnant women should also stay clear of the work area.
Much of Rancho Cucamonga is newer tract housing, so the pre-1978 question tends to come up in the older pockets nearby: Upland's historic districts, Claremont's older streets near the colleges and the Village, and the older structures along Etiwanda Avenue.
Repairing wood before painting it
Paint on rotten wood is a cover-up, not a repair, so soft wood is fixed before any primer goes on. Wood decay fungi need wood that stays wet, with moisture content above roughly 20 percent, and on a Craftsman house the water collects in predictable places. We probe the soft spots, take moisture readings, find where the water gets in, and cut out and replace what has gone.
Porch columns and rails
Tapered square porch columns and the rails between them trap water at their bases, where brown rot leaves wood shrunken, dark and cracked into rough cubes.
Shingle and lap siding
Shingles and siding boards split, cup and lose paint along their bottom edges; loose boards are refastened and failed ones are replaced to match the profile.
Double-hung window sash
Craftsman windows are typically 4-over-1 or 6-over-1 double-hung units, and their sills and lower rails take the most sun and water on the house. Redwood and cedar, common on older California houses, bleed tannin through light paint, so bare repairs in those woods get a stain-blocking primer before the finish coats.
Period color schemes
A Craftsman house usually looks right in three or more colors: a body color, a trim color for the eaves, bargeboards and window casings, and an accent for the sash or the front door. The style came out of the Arts and Crafts movement and was built across Southern California from about 1905, and its palette leaned on natural materials, stone, shingle and wood.
- Pick from colors your house could have worn in its own era. Most authentic historic colors come from natural earth pigments, and bright synthetic hues have no period precedent.
- Keep body and trim related. When they are too far apart in color or value, the parts of the house seem to jump off it.
- Look at the roof, any stonework and the planting before choosing, because they stay.
- Brush out large samples on the house and judge them on an overcast day, since hard sun misleads.
Local review is worth a call before you settle a scheme. Upland has nine locally designated historic districts, and its preservation program requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for exterior modifications that alter the appearance of a designated resource, so ask the planning counter whether your color change counts. Upland also offers Mills Act contracts, which give property tax relief to owners who maintain a historic building. In Claremont's historic district, the review rule for exterior changes to houses excludes painting, and Claremont Heritage keeps a research library for owners choosing colors.
The process
How a historic repaint runs
Walk and test
We walk the house with you, test the old paint before any sanding, and map every soft board, loose shingle and failed sill.
Contain and protect
Plastic goes down under each wall being worked, windows and vents near the work are sealed, and plantings along the foundation are covered.
Scrape and repair
Loose paint is wet scraped back to a sound edge, and the wood repairs are made before anything is primed.
Prime
Bare wood and repairs get primer, including a stain blocker on redwood and cedar.
Coat by coat
Body, trim and accent colors go on in the number of coats named in your scope, brushed where the detail needs it.
Clean and walk through
HEPA vacuuming and wet cleaning close each work area, and we finish with a walkthrough and punch list.
What historic repainting costs
Repainting a historic or Craftsman home is typically estimated at roughly $15,000 to $60,000, and the amount of failing paint and rotten wood moves that range more than the size of the house.
- How much loose paint has to be wet scraped, and how much containment each wall needs.
- The number of wood repairs: rafter tails, brackets, porch columns, sills and siding boards.
- How many colors the scheme uses, since every added color is more cutting in.
- Stories, porch height and access around mature landscaping.
- Window count, because double-hung sash are painted piece by piece.
- Whether the interior trim is included along with the exterior.
These numbers are estimates, subject to change once we have tested and probed your house; the written quote that follows the free walk sets the final price, based mostly on paint condition, repair count and the number of colors.
Older buildings owned by businesses and organizations
The same federal rule covers child care facilities and preschools built before 1978, and older storefronts, churches and meeting halls carry the same layers of old paint as a house. Owners and managers of those buildings can send photos and the building address for a walk and a written proposal, and larger commercial repaints go through our commercial painting team.
Colors and Finishes
Questions
Historic & Craftsman Home Painting: Common Questions
Does my house need lead-safe practices?
If it was built before 1978 and the job will disturb old paint, yes. Paid work on that paint falls under the EPA rule, and we treat the old layers as lead-bearing until testing shows otherwise.
Can you just paint over the old paint?
Only where it is still firmly bonded. Loose and flaking paint has to be wet scraped back to a sound edge first, or the new coats peel off with it, and that scraping is exactly the step that needs containment.
Will you strip the house down to bare wood?
Usually not. Stabilizing the paint that has failed and keeping the sound layers underneath is the normal approach, because full stripping creates far more dust and removes paint that was still doing its job.
Do I need city approval to repaint in Upland or Claremont?
It depends on the city and on whether your house is designated. Upland reviews exterior modifications to designated resources through a Certificate of Appropriateness, so check with its planning counter first; Claremont's historic district review for houses excludes painting.
Can rotted trim be saved, or does it all get replaced?
Much of it can be saved. We cut out only the decayed section and fit new wood to the original profile, and whole pieces are replaced only when the rot runs through them.
Do we have to move out while you work?
For exterior work, rarely, because each wall is contained and cleaned as we go. Families with small children or a pregnant household member should keep them away from the work area, and interior work on old paint is scheduled room by room with the room sealed.
Can you match the colors my house had originally?
Sometimes the old color can be found under later layers in a protected spot such as behind a shutter or under a trim board. We show you what we find, and you choose whether to follow it or pick a period palette.
How do I get an estimate?
Call us or send the form. We test, probe and photograph the house on a free walk, then send a written estimate listing the containment, repairs and colors.
Free on-site estimate
Talk to us about historic & Craftsman home painting
Homeowners get a free on-site estimate. Boards, managers and contractors can send a scope for a bid.
Licensed, insured and bonded · License #585047. Calls only, we do not receive text messages.