How long a triple-decker exterior repaint takes in Quincy

Why a triple-decker takes longer than a two-story house of the same footprint

A triple-decker is a tall, narrow box with a lot of wall. The usual example in Wollaston, North Quincy or Quincy Point sits on a tight lot, stands 36 to 40 feet to the ridge, and carries roughly 4,000 to 5,000 square feet of siding before you subtract windows. Add three stacked front porches, often a rear stair tower, and 20 to 30 windows, and you have far more trim and edge work than a Colonial with the same floor plan.

Height is the other factor. Nothing above the second floor can be reached from a ladder alone with any safety or speed, so the job lives on staging. Every time staging moves from one side to the next, a half day or more goes into breaking it down, carrying it around the lot and setting it back up level. On a house with a shared driveway on one side and a neighbor's two-family a few feet away on the other, that move is slower still.

What happens in each phase, and how many days it usually runs

Most of our triple-decker jobs follow the same order. The day counts below are working days with decent weather, and they assume the siding is wood clapboard or shingle that has been painted many times. Plenty of Quincy triple-deckers were covered in vinyl or aluminum decades ago, and on those houses only trim, porches and windows get paint, which often takes seven to twelve days.

The prep phases carry the most variation. A south wall that has been baking for twenty years may need full scraping to bare wood in spots, while a shaded north wall in good shape needs only a wash, a spot scrape and a coat. We look at each elevation separately at the walk-through and build the schedule side by side, not as one block.

• Setup and protection: 1 to 2 days for staging, ground sheeting and covering plantings, AC units and walkways
• Washing and drying: 1 day to wash off dirt, mildew and salt film, then 24 to 48 hours of dry weather
• Scraping, sanding and lead-safe cleanup: 5 to 10 days depending on how many sides need full prep
• Carpentry: 1 to 4 days for rotted sills, porch rails, balusters, skirt boards and corner boards
• Caulk and prime: 2 to 4 days, with bare wood primed the same day it is exposed when possible
• Two finish coats on body, trim and porches: 5 to 8 days
• Punch list and teardown: 1 to 2 days

How eastern Massachusetts weather stretches or shortens the schedule

Rain is the obvious delay, but dew costs more days than people expect. In September and October the clapboards on a triple-decker a few blocks from Quincy Bay can stay wet until 10 or 11 in the morning, and paint going on a damp surface will fail. We start on the side the sun reaches first and stop applying coatings early enough in the afternoon that the film can set before evening dew comes back.

After a soaking rain, bare wood needs time to dry out before primer goes on. We check with a moisture meter and wait for readings in the low teens or below. A wet week in May or a nor'easter in October can add four to six days to a job that was otherwise moving on schedule. Wind off the water also shuts down spraying on exposed upper walls. That is why we give a range for the timeline rather than a single finish date, and why spring and early fall slots fill first.

What tenants on each floor should expect while the work is underway

Most triple-deckers we paint in Quincy are occupied, often with three separate households. Tenants should expect staging outside their windows for several weeks, noise from scraping during working hours, and days when windows on the side being prepped need to stay closed. Window AC units on the work side usually come out for the prep and paint days, so we plan the hottest elevations around that when we can.

Porches are the part tenants notice most. Each porch floor and rail is out of use while it is scraped, primed and coated, and porch floor enamel needs a day or more before light foot traffic and longer before furniture goes back. We work one level at a time so nobody loses their porch and their rear stair on the same day. Clear notices taped at each door with dates for each side help a lot.

What Quincy owners can do before the start date to keep the job moving

Owners save real time by handling a few things before staging goes up. Give tenants written notice of the start date and the porch schedule. Arrange access to basements, rear stairs and any locked porches. Ask tenants to move grills, bikes, plants and furniture off porches and away from the walls, and to keep cars off the driveway on the days we stage that side. On streets near the Wollaston and North Quincy Red Line stops, parking fills early, so plan where the work vehicle goes.

If staging, a dumpster or a lift has to sit on the sidewalk or street, the city may require a permit, so check with the city well before the start date, not the morning of. Decide on colors early, too. Choosing a body, trim and accent color for a three-porch facade often takes longer than people think, and a color change halfway through the job costs days.

• Written notice to every tenant with dates for each side and each porch
• Keys or access for basements, rear stairs and locked porches
• Porches and wall bases cleared of grills, plants, bikes and furniture
• Driveway kept clear on staging days
• Final color choices made before setup

How lead-safe prep fits into the triple-decker timeline

Nearly every triple-decker in Quincy went up in the early 1900s, long before 1978, so we treat the existing paint as lead paint unless testing shows otherwise. That changes how the prep runs. Ground sheeting goes down along each wall being scraped, surfaces are misted before scraping, power sanding happens only with dust collection attached, and debris is bagged and the sheeting cleaned at the end of each day.

These steps add hours, not weeks, but they are part of why prep is the longest phase. Skipping them is not an option on an occupied house with kids on the second floor and a vegetable garden next door. When we quote a timeline, the lead-safe cleanup is already built into it, and owners should be wary of any schedule that seems to leave it out.