Plymouth's 1970s-1990s homes: cedar, stucco and hardboard
Plymouth's housing is a generation older than Rogers or St. Michael, and it shows in the materials. The 1970s homes are cedar lap and channel siding, often stained when new and now gray on the north side and silver on the south, with cedar trim and cedar decks that have gone the same way. That is staining work: wash, brighten where the wood has darkened, dry fully, and a solid or semi-transparent stain that soaks in. Where the cedar has been painted at some point, it stays painted and gets prepped as a painted surface. The 1980s brought stucco, and Plymouth has a lot of it: hairline cracks, chalking, and stains under the windows where water has run for decades. Stucco gets an elastomeric patch on the cracks, a masonry primer and a coating made for it, never a standard house paint. The late 1980s and 1990s homes are hardboard two-stories, the same material that fails from the bottom edge up in Maple Grove, and they get the same board-by-board check on the walkthrough.
Medicine Lake, Plymouth Creek and the wooded lots
Plymouth has mature trees the way the newer suburbs do not, and a lot of its homes sit on wooded lots with the exposure problems shade brings: damp north walls, mildew on cedar and hardboard, soft sills and fascia behind clogged gutters. Around Medicine Lake the water adds another wet wall. The lake-facing side of those homes sees dew and fog most mornings, and that is where we find peeling bottom courses, mildew and rotten deck boards. We wash with a mildewcide, give the shaded and lake walls an extra drying day, prime every bit of bare wood, and use a finish that handles wet-dry cycling. The Plymouth Creek area and the neighborhoods off Hwy 55 have the same mix of cedar and hardboard under trees. On all of them, we tell you when a limb over the wall is the real reason the paint keeps failing, because trimming it is cheaper than repainting again in three years.
How we work in Plymouth
Plymouth is about 30 minutes east of the shop, and Hwy 55 runs straight through it, so the drive is direct even if it is the far end of our range. We plan Plymouth jobs as full days and bundle the walkthrough, the color samples and the second look to make each trip count, and we run them alongside work in Medina and Corcoran along the same highway. Plymouth lots are closer together than the acreage cities, so we mask the neighbor's side as carefully as our customer's and keep the sprayer to walls where overspray can be controlled. Every exterior gets a written estimate with repairs as separate lines, a wash, scraping and sanding where the surface needs it, repairs under our contractor license, caulk, primer and two finish coats sprayed and back-brushed on siding and brushed on trim, with daily cleanup and a final walkthrough. Exterior season runs roughly May to mid-October.
Exterior painting in Plymouth
Plymouth's cedar, stucco and hardboard each want a different exterior painting process, and picking the wrong one is how a Plymouth house ends up peeling in two summers. Our exterior painting page covers the process for each material, the staining and sealing work most cedar homes need, and what changes the cost on an older home under trees. 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 Plymouth
Inside, Plymouth's 1970s-90s homes are the winter job we do most: stained oak trim, stair rails and doors sprayed white, popcorn ceilings repaired and repainted, and the original oak kitchen sprayed with a waterborne enamel. Many have a stone or brick fireplace wall that someone wants painted. We run interior and cabinet work November through April, a floor at a time. See interior painting and cabinet and trim enamel.
Where in Plymouth we work
- Plymouth Creek
- Medicine Lake area
Services in Plymouth
Painting
- Exterior painting
- Interior painting
- Cabinet painting
- Staining and sealing
- Deck staining
- Commercial painting
Exteriors and build
Google reviewsWhat customers say
★★★★★We used Cedar Tone Painting to paint the entire interior of our home - they did an exceptional job. Service and quality of work was excellent! Highly recommend the company. We will definitely use them in the future for other interior and exterior projects.
★★★★★Cedar Tone did a great job replacing my roof, and managed to fit me into their schedule quickly. Great price and communication throughout the whole process!
Straight answersPainting questions from Plymouth
Can you paint the stucco on our 1980s Plymouth home?
Yes, with the right products. Stucco gets the hairline cracks filled with an elastomeric patch, a masonry primer over the chalky and stained areas, and a coating made for stucco rather than a standard house paint. Standard paint on stucco peels because the surface breathes and moves. We also look at the flashing and sills above the stained areas, since the stain usually means water has been running there for years.
Our Plymouth house has gray cedar siding. Stain or paint?
If it has only ever been stained, stain. We wash it, brighten where the wood has gone dark, let it dry, and apply a solid or semi-transparent stain that soaks in and does not peel. If someone painted it at some point, it has to stay painted, and we prep it as a painted surface. We check on the walkthrough and tell you which one you have. Most 1970s Plymouth cedar we see is stained and ready to be brought back.
Do you work on Medicine Lake homes?
Yes. The lake-facing wall gets a mildewcide wash, an extra day to dry, a bonding primer on every bit of bare wood and a finish chosen for wet-dry cycling, all scheduled for the driest days of the job. Decks on the water get a penetrating stain made for standing moisture. Soft sills, fascia and deck boards get replaced under our contractor license before anything goes on.
Is Plymouth too far from Rockford for a one-room interior job?
No, but we plan it with the route in mind. Plymouth is about 30 minutes from the shop on Hwy 55, and we schedule smaller jobs alongside other work in Plymouth, Medina and Corcoran along the same highway. A single room, a set of cabinets or a deck is fine; we may offer a date that fits the route rather than the first open day on the calendar.