Outside: siding, trim and doors
Exterior work covers clapboard siding, trim, doors and the rest of what the weather beats on. Older houses around the lakes often have a lot of trim, tall gable ends and many coats of paint built up over the years. The photos on this page show one of those: a tall clapboard building with the old paint scraped back and ladders up to the peak.
Doors and window sash get their own attention. They're the parts people touch every day, and the first places worn paint shows.
Prep is most of the job
Paint only holds as well as what's under it. Loose and peeling paint gets scraped off. Edges get sanded so the old layers don't show through as ridges. Soft or rotted wood gets repaired, bare wood gets primed, and open seams get caulked.
It's slow work, and from the road it doesn't look like much is happening. But skipping it is why some paint jobs start peeling so soon.
Weather and the painting season
Exterior paint has limits. Every can lists a minimum temperature for the air and the surface, and paint shouldn't go on wet wood or right before rain. Late in a New Hampshire season, cold nights and heavy morning dew cut down the hours you can paint each day. Wood has to be dry inside as well as on the surface, and after a wet stretch siding can need some dry weather before it's ready.
Hot sun brings its own trouble, drying paint too fast on whichever side of the house faces it. Painters often follow the shade around the house for that reason.
Inside: walls, ceilings, trim and doors
Interior painting covers walls, ceilings, trim and doors. Ceilings go first, then walls, then trim, so any drips land on surfaces that still need paint. The prep is smaller but it's still there: filling nail holes and cracks, sanding patches smooth, cleaning and priming where the old finish is glossy or stained. Clean lines where the wall meets the ceiling and the trim are most of what makes a room look finished.
Stone and paint on one job
Painting is the smaller side of Jones Legacy, next to the stone work. It fits well when a project needs both, like new stone on a foundation and fresh paint on the siding and trim above it, or a stone fireplace wall with painted trim around it. One call covers the whole thing. You deal with one business for the stone and the paint.
