Interior Painting in Ocean County

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey counts close to 299,000 housing units in Ocean County, and the busiest decade by far was the 1970s: about 58,800 homes, roughly one in five, date from those ten years. Fewer than four percent were built in 1939 or earlier, a fraction of the pre-war share in Monmouth County to the north. And the county kept building: about a quarter of its homes have gone up since 2000.

For an interior painter that profile means drywall, not plaster, in the great majority of houses. It means ranches and split-levels with low ceilings, hollow-core doors, narrow baseboards and a lot of painted or stained wood paneling in dens and basements. It means textured and popcorn ceilings, which were popular in exactly that period. And it means kitchens and baths that have been updated two or three times while the rest of the trim still wears whatever went on decades ago. Almost half of the county's homes were built before 1980, so the federal lead rule applies to a good many of them: paid work that disturbs paint from before 1978 has to be done by an EPA-certified renovator, and NJ Painting Co. is not certified for it. We check the age of the house at the estimate and tell you if any of the prep falls into that category.

The newer quarter of the stock, concentrated in Jackson and Lakewood and in the rebuilt sections along the bay, is a different job again: builder-flat walls in one beige, tall great rooms, and a first real repaint that should start with a proper primer on any patched areas so the finish does not flash.

Along the lagoons and the bay in Brick, Toms River, Bayville, Ocean Gate and Stafford, many houses were gutted, raised or rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy. Inside, that often means newer drywall that was finished quickly and painted once by the builder, sometimes with joints and corner bead that show through under the light off the water. Before a color change those walls get their seams checked, nail pops set and patched, and a primer over any repairs so the finish reads evenly across the room. Drywall repair is part of our interior work; anything structural or wet behind the wall is not.

Second homes and rentals bring their own problem: a house shut up for the winter with the heat turned low. Interior paint needs the room warm enough to apply and dry properly, so for off-season work in a closed-up house in Point Pleasant or on a Stafford lagoon we ask for the heat to be turned up a day or two ahead and left on until the job is finished. Damp is the summer version of the same issue. A bayfront house closed up in July holds humid air, mildew forms in bathrooms and closets, and paint dries slowly. We wash mildew off and let the surface dry before priming, and run air conditioning or a dehumidifier while coats go on.

Sand gets everywhere at the shore, including into wet paint. On rentals and beach houses we vacuum and wipe down floors and baseboards before cutting in, and keep doors closed while coats are drying.