Greenfield's acreage homes: cedar, hardboard and shade
Greenfield never built subdivisions the way the cities east of it did. It stayed large-lot, so the housing is a spread of custom and semi-custom homes from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, with a scattering of 2000s builds on split-off parcels. Cedar is everywhere: lap siding, channel rustic, board-and-batten on garages and pole buildings. A lot of it was stained once when it was new and has been going gray ever since. The 1980s and 1990s houses often have hardboard lap siding instead, and hardboard in Greenfield tends to swell at the bottom edges and around the nail heads where the factory primer gave up. Both materials share the same enemy here, which is shade. Oaks and maples over the north and east walls keep the siding damp into midmorning, and damp siding grows mildew and lets paint lift. The sunny south and west walls do the opposite: they chalk and fade. We treat the two sides of the same house as two different jobs.
Lake Sarah properties and the wet side of the house
Lake Sarah sits in the south part of Greenfield, and the homes around it have the exposure problems lake homes get everywhere in Minnesota. The wall facing the water sees morning fog and dew almost every day from May through September, so it stays wet longer than the rest of the house, and that is where we find the mildew, the soft window sills and the peeling bottom courses of siding. Decks and railings on the lake side take sun and water at the same time, which is why a semi-transparent stain on a lake deck rarely lasts as long as the can says. On Lake Sarah homes we wash with a mildewcide, let the lake wall dry a full day longer than the rest, spot-prime bare wood, and plan the deck staining for a dry stretch with no dew forecast overnight.
How we work in Greenfield
Greenfield is a short drive for us, so it gets the treatment a close job gets: a sample of the color brushed on your actual siding before we order, a second look at anything that was hidden under the old paint, and touch-ups without a long wait. Hwy 55 runs along the north edge of town, and the county roads take us down toward Lake Sarah in a few minutes more. Acreage lots come with their own logistics. We stage the sprayer and ladders on the driveway, cover the plantings against overspray and wash water, and bring a lift when a gable over a walkout is taller than a ladder should reach. Exteriors run from roughly May to mid-October here, once the siding and the overnight air stay above about 50 degrees. Anything rotten we find gets replaced under our contractor license, written up as a line item, before the first coat goes on.
Exterior painting in Greenfield
Greenfield is older cedar and hardboard on shaded lots, so exterior painting is the service we do the most of here. The work is mostly prep: washing off mildew, scraping the shaded walls, priming bare wood, caulking the gaps that opened up as the boards moved. Our exterior painting page covers the process, the season and what drives the cost of a job like this. How an exterior repaint goes, and what moves the cost. Rotten trim and siding get replaced first by our own crew under our contractor license, see rot and trim repair.
Interior painting and cabinets in Greenfield
When the weather closes in, Greenfield's 1980s and 1990s homes turn inside. Stained oak trim and stair rails get sprayed white, popcorn ceilings get repaired and repainted, and the kitchen with the original oak cabinets gets a waterborne enamel. We run interior and cabinet work all winter and schedule around your family, one room at a time if that is what works. See interior painting and cabinet and trim enamel.
Where in Greenfield we work
- Lake Sarah
Services in Greenfield
Painting
- Exterior painting
- Interior painting
- Cabinet painting
- Staining and sealing
- Deck staining
- Commercial painting
Exteriors and build
Google reviewsWhat customers say
★★★★★We hired Cedar Tone Properties & Painting to paint the exterior of our house and to repair some roofing on the peak of our house (which was done incorrectly by a different roofing company). CTP did excellent work on both projects. The painting crew was meticulous and accommodating. They made sure we were completely happy with the final result. The roofing crew matched the shingles perfectly and finished the roof peak correctly. Our house looks wonderful! We are extremely satisfied with Cedar Tone and recommend them for your painting or roofing needs.
★★★★★Cedar Tone Painting was recommended to me by a potential client. They quickly got back to me and came out for an estimate at a time that suited my needs. The estimate that I received was complete and thorough. Expectations and completion time frame were clearly conveyed to me and there were no surprises. Quality of work and willingness to complete the project on my terms was important to me. I would certainly use Cedar Tone Painting again in the future for any painting projects that I have. Their willingness to help me move a few pieces of furniture was a pleasant surprise and contributed to a great experience. I enjoyed the friendliness and professionalism of the crew. Thank you Cedar Tone Painting!
Straight answersPainting questions from Greenfield
Should we paint or stain the cedar siding on our Greenfield house?
If the cedar has only ever been stained, stay with stain: a solid or semi-transparent stain soaks into the wood and does not peel the way paint can. If the cedar has already been painted, it has to stay painted, because stain will not take over old paint. We check the siding on the walkthrough and tell you which one you have. Most Greenfield cedar we see is stained and gray, and a solid stain in a fresh color brings it back without the film that paint leaves.
The north side of our Greenfield home is always green. Can you fix that before painting?
Yes, and it has to happen first or the new paint will lift within a couple of seasons. The green is mildew growing on siding that stays damp under the trees. We wash it with a mildewcide, let that wall dry longer than the rest, scrape and sand what is loose, and prime the bare wood before color. Trimming branches back off the wall helps the new paint last, and we will tell you if a limb is the real problem.
Do you replace rotten boards on Greenfield homes, or only paint?
We replace them. Cedar Tone holds a Minnesota residential building contractor license, so rotten fascia, soffit, window sills, corner boards and deck boards get cut out and replaced with new material by our crew before the painting starts. It shows up on the estimate as its own line so you can see what the repair costs apart from the paint. Acreage homes in Greenfield almost always have some of it, usually on the shaded side.