Peeling at the cornice
Paint lifting under the top roof edge is the first sign water is reaching the trim, and ice dams or gutter leaks there soak the facade below.
Exterior Painting in Quincy
Triple-decker painting in Quincy, stacked porches and three floors of siding
A triple-decker or stacked-porch two-family has porches on every floor, a roof edge three stories up and tenants coming and going all day, so a repaint that looks simple from the sidewalk turns into a staging and scheduling problem.
- Phone answered 24/7
- Walk-throughs across Norfolk County
- Exterior Painting
$19,450 to $36,800Typical per building in Quincy. The walk-through sets your number.
Brands we work with: Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, California Paints, Farrow & Ball, PPG, Fine Paints of Europe, Cabot, Zinsser, York Wallcoverings, Thibaut, Schumacher, Phillip Jeffries, Graham & Brown, Roman.
Quick answer
Triple-decker painting in Quincy covers staging to the top cornice, lead-safe scraping of clapboard or shingle walls, priming, two acrylic finish coats and painting every stacked porch, including railings, balusters, columns, ceilings and floors. Typical ranges run $19,450 to $36,800 per building, depending on siding, porch condition and how many sides are reachable. A walk-through sets the real number.
What triple-decker painting covers with us
Quincy's multi-family housing grew up along the trolley and later the Red Line, when the shipyard and the granite quarries drew workers who needed rooms close to the job. Wollaston, North Quincy, Quincy Point and Montclair still have early 1900s two-families with stacked front porches, along with a scattering of true triple-deckers, and the streets just over the Neponset toward Boston carry many more. They share a pattern: units stacked over a basement, a front facade dominated by porches, a side bay and a cornice at the top.
Painting one is closer to a small commercial project than a house job. Our painters plan staging around narrow side yards, schedule porch work so each household knows when its porch is out of use, and sequence the job so the top floor and cornice are done before anything below. Owners get one written scope covering the walls, the trim and every porch level, split so the work can be phased if the budget needs it.
How we stage a triple-decker on a tight Quincy lot
Side yards on many Wollaston and North Quincy multi-family streets are five to nine feet wide, with a driveway on one side and the neighbor's clapboard on the other. Long extension ladders can't reach the cornice safely at the right angle, so we use pump jacks, frame scaffolding or a lift where the driveway allows one. The staging plan is set at the walk-through, including where it stands, how long it stays up and whether a neighbor's driveway needs to be crossed.
We work the front facade and the most exposed side first, usually the wall that takes the northeast wind off Quincy Bay. The back elevation, often with its own stacked porches or an exterior stair, comes last.
- Pump jack or frame scaffolding where ladders can't reach the cornice
- Sidewalk, driveway and neighbor coordination agreed before setup
- Top-down sequence: cornice, upper siding, then porches
- Ground containment kept clear of every unit's entry
Painting stacked porches without shutting tenants out
Each porch level has columns, a rail and baluster system, a ceiling, a floor and often a skirt board. Balusters alone can add a day per level. We schedule one porch at a time and give each household a date range, so the first-floor tenant isn't blocked while we paint the top. Porch floors get a dedicated porch and floor enamel, and doors stay usable through the cure with a walking path left until the final coat.
Upper porch ceilings are usually bead board under the porch roof of the level above. They peel from trapped moisture and from leaks at the porch roof flashing, so we scrape, prime with a stain-blocking primer and finish with a mildew-resistant acrylic, and we point out any leak that needs fixing first.
Siding under a multi-family's paint and what each type needs
Original Quincy two-families and triple-deckers were clad in clapboard, cedar shingle or a mix, often with fish-scale shingles in the front gable. Many were later covered with asbestos-cement shingle, aluminum or vinyl, leaving only painted trim and porches. Painted asbestos-cement shingle can be cleaned gently and coated, but we never sand, break or high-pressure wash it. Aluminum siding takes a bonding primer and a satin acrylic.
Where original wood remains, we scrape, spot-prime with oil primer and finish in acrylic, the same as a single-family house, just with three floors of height and three times the porch detail.
Splitting the scope so a landlord can budget the building
Most of these buildings are owned by someone living on one floor and renting the others, or by a landlord with several properties. We write the estimate in separate lines for the facade, each side, the rear and every porch level, so you can see where the money goes and decide what to do this season. The facade and the weather side usually go first because they fail fastest, and the rear and back porches can follow the next spring without the house looking half done from the street.
How a triple-decker repaint is scheduled from top to bottom
Walk-through with the owner
We look at all elevations, every porch level, siding type and access. You get a written scope that separates walls, trim and each porch so you can plan the budget.
Tenant notice and staging
We give you dates for tenant notices. Staging goes up on the facade first, with entries kept clear and ground containment laid along the foundation.
Cornice and upper walls
The top trim, cornice and upper-floor walls are washed, scraped, primed and finished while staging is high, so we never paint over freshly finished lower work.
Porches level by level
Each porch is scraped, repaired where boards or balusters have failed, primed and painted on its own schedule, with tenants told the day it is out of use.
Side and rear elevations
Staging moves to the sides and back. Rear stairs and back porches get the same treatment, and debris is cleaned up every afternoon.
Final walk and handoff
We walk every level with you, touch up marks, remove staging and containment, and leave labeled paint for future touch-ups.
Typical triple-decker painting cost in Quincy
Typical range in Quincy$19,450 to $36,800per building
The range covers full exterior painting of a standard three-family or tall stacked-porch two-family with front porches on every level, wood trim and wood or previously painted siding. Rear porches, heavy rot repair or a full lift rental push toward the top. A walk-through sets the real number.
What moves the number
- Staging type needed to reach the cornice safely on each side
- Siding material: clapboard, shingle, asbestos-cement, aluminum or vinyl with painted trim
- Number of porch levels, front and rear, and baluster count per level
- Rot repair on porch floors, rails, column bases and window sills
- Lead-safe containment where units have young children or shared yards
- Number of colors and accent trim on brackets, gables and bays
Compare every service side by side in our painting and wallpaper cost guide, or call (617) 576-8235 to set a walk-through.
What tells you a triple-decker or two-family is overdue for paint?
Bare porch floors
Worn traffic paths at each door expose the floorboards, which then absorb water, cup and start to rot at the board ends.
Loose or cracked balusters
Peeling and split balusters let water into end grain, and railings in that shape are a safety issue for tenants on upper floors.
Stained porch ceilings
Brown streaks and flaking bead board point to leaks or trapped moisture under the porch roof above, which needs checking before painting.
Faded trim on vinyl siding
Even with vinyl walls, wood window casings, corner boards and porch posts still need paint, and they rot quietly when ignored.
Tenant complaints about chips
Flakes on porch floors and windowsills in a pre-1978 building are a lead concern, especially with small children in any unit.
Quincy multi-families and the weather they face
Stacked-porch two-families and triple-deckers line side streets off Hancock Street in Wollaston and North Quincy, fill blocks near the Fore River end of Quincy Point and climb the slopes of Montclair toward the Neponset. Many sit within a short walk of a Red Line stop, which keeps them rented and keeps owners juggling tenants, budgets and the building at once. That's why we split the scope by porch and elevation, so work can be phased across two seasons if needed.
Their height puts the top floor in the full force of nor'easter rain, and low-pitched roofs often drain toward the front cornice, where ice dams form every hard winter. We check gutters, downspouts and porch roof flashing at the walk-through and recommend fixes before painting, because a cornice that stays wet will peel no matter how good the coating is.
Where we do triple-decker painting
Quincy neighborhoods and nearby towns we cover most often, with ZIP codes:
- Quincy02169
- Wollaston02170
- North Quincy02171
- Squantum02171
- Montclair02171
- Merrymount02169
- Houghs Neck02169
- Adams Shore02169
- West Quincy02169
- South Quincy02169
- Quincy Point02169
- Braintree02184
- Milton02186
- Dedham02026
- Needham02492
- Wellesley02482
- Norwood02062
- Canton02021
- Stoughton02072
- Newton02458
- Natick01760
- Framingham01702
- Waltham02451
- Watertown02472
- Weston02493
Triple-Decker Painting questions from Quincy homeowners
Do tenants need to move out during triple-decker painting in Wollaston?
No. Tenants stay in place. We give the owner a schedule so tenants can be told when their porch, windows or entry will be affected, usually a few days per level. Entries stay passable, and on scraping days windows near the work stay closed. Clear notice up front keeps the job moving and avoids complaints.
Can triple-decker painting on a North Quincy building be split across two seasons?
Yes. A common split is the front facade and all front porches in the first season, then the sides and rear the next. We write the estimate in sections so you can choose the order. The facade and the side facing the bay wind usually go first, since they fail fastest.
Is a lift or scaffolding needed for triple-decker painting on a narrow Quincy Point lot?
Usually some form of staging is needed to reach the cornice safely, since it can sit close to forty feet up. On narrow lots we often use pump jacks or frame scaffolding. A lift works where there is a driveway or open yard. The choice depends on your lot, the neighbors and the sidewalk, and we cover it in the estimate.
What paint goes on porch floors during triple-decker painting in Montclair?
Porch floors get a dedicated porch and floor enamel, not wall paint. On bare or weathered boards we prime first, and open board ends get sealed before the finish coats. A little fine grit in the final coat adds traction on painted stairs, which matters with several households using them in sleet and frost.
How does lead paint affect triple-decker painting on a Quincy rental property?
We presume the old exterior paint on any pre-1978 building contains lead and work with ground containment, wet scraping, no open burning and daily cleanup of porches and sills. Massachusetts has its own lead rules for rentals with young children, so owners should check their obligations with the state. We can explain our lead-safe practices so you can share them with tenants.
Does triple-decker painting include the rear stairs on a stacked-porch two-family in Quincy?
It can. Rear porches and exterior stairs are written as their own line in the estimate because they often need more carpentry than the front. Treads, stringers and rail posts get probed for rot, repaired, primed and finished in porch enamel, with grit on the treads. You choose whether they go in this season or the next.
Related work we often pair with it
Porch Painting
Quincy front porches take sun, snow, rock salt from boots and constant foot traffic, so floorboards wear bare, balusters split and ceilings peel long.
How we do itExterior House Painting
Peeling clapboard, chalky trim and bare gray wood on the weather side of a Quincy house mean the old paint film has stopped protecting the siding,.
How we do itLead-Safe Painting
Most Quincy houses were painted long before 1978, so scraping a porch, sanding a window sash or stripping wallpaper can turn old lead paint into dust.
How we do itWood Rot Repair
A screwdriver sinks into your window sill, the corner board crumbles at the bottom, or a porch column has gone soft.
How we do itTalk to us about triple-decker painting
Our phone is answered around the clock. Tell us about the rooms or the house and we will set a walk-through and a written estimate.