Keyport is a small borough of about a square and a half miles on Raritan Bay, between Union Beach, Hazlet and Aberdeen. It was set up as a town in 1870 and became a borough in 1908, and in between it made its living from the water. Keyport oysters were shipped far beyond New Jersey until overfishing and pollution ended the trade in the early twentieth century. From 1914 to 1930 the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company built seaplanes for the Navy here. The town was rebuilt more than once as well: the Great Fire of 1877 destroyed thirty-one buildings. What remains is a compact grid of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century houses running uphill from the harbor, with newer infill mixed in, and a downtown that the county now treats as an arts and dining hub. A free estimate in Keyport begins with the age of the house and how far it sits from the water.
The bay sets the terms for exterior paint. Houses near the harbor and the waterfront park face open water to the north, and the north and east walls take wind, salt and rain that a house a mile inland never sees. Salt residue on siding is the most common reason a new coat of paint lets go early, so on those houses we wash first, let the walls dry, and only then scrape back to sound paint and spot-prime bare wood. Window sills, porch rails and the bottom edges of clapboard are where water sits and rot begins. We cut out and replace soft wood rather than caulking over it, and we finish with coastal-rated premium Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore exterior systems. The bay-facing walls get their own line in our scope because they need more work than the sheltered sides.
Much of Keyport's housing was built long before the 1978 lead-paint ban, so we follow lead-safe practices on painted trim as standard: plastic containment, wet scraping in place of dry power-sanding, HEPA vacuum cleanup and a clean site at the end of each day. That applies indoors as well, where original window and door casings often carry several layers of old oil paint. Those need a bonding primer before any modern waterborne finish, or the new coat will peel off the old one within a year. Plaster walls get spot-primed patches so the repairs don't show through the finish.
Inside, the requests are what you would expect in an older bay town: interior repaints that respect original trim, cabinet refinishing in kitchens where the boxes are sound but the finish is worn out, refinished oak under old carpet, and epoxy floors for garages and basements that see damp and winter salt. Storefronts and offices along the main business streets can be painted after hours so they lose no trading time. NJ Painting Co. is family-owned and based in Morganville, about fifteen minutes away. We are licensed and fully insured, every Keyport estimate is free and includes a color consultation, and the work carries a two-year workmanship warranty.
