HomeAlamo Heights
Half of Alamo Heights was built before 1950
On a house that old, how the old paint comes off matters more than what goes back on.
4.8 on Google 100+ recommendations on Nextdoor 2 year written warranty $1,000,000 liability coverage
Old house territory
The median Alamo Heights home was built in 1950. Of the city's 3,701 housing units, exactly half predate 1950 and 32.9 percent date to 1939 or earlier. Roughly 70 to 74 percent were built in 1979 or earlier. Incorporated in 1922 and built out by mid century, this is old house territory.
That build date decides almost everything about how a repaint here is scoped. The surfaces are older, the paint under them is older, and the prep is where the job is won or lost.
What we look at
Four things come up on nearly every Alamo Heights property, and all four are settled before a color is picked.
Most of the housing here went up well before 1978, which is where lead paint risk lives. That changes how prep is done. Dry sanding and open scraping are what release lead dust, so on older homes we work to lead safe practices: containment, wet methods, and cleanup as we go. Ask any painter you are considering, including us, how they handle prep on a pre 1978 house.
A straight repaint needs no permit here. Code section 5-50(c) exempts routine maintenance, including interior painting and replacing missing, fallen, rotten or broken shingles, siding, fascia trim, decking or exterior doors, but only with the same material and finished color. Change the color while replacing rotten fascia and you are outside it. We scope rot and color together.
The city's own 2009 Comprehensive Plan calls asbestos tiles and wood siding the predominant building material in Sylvan Hills, and puts asbestos shingles on about a fifth of the Cottage District. OSHA restricts cutting, abrading or breaking cementitious asbestos siding, and whether a prep scope triggers that is a job by job call. We do not remove asbestos. What matters is a painter who knows it on sight and never puts a grinder to it.
Alamo Heights has no historic districts and no adopted preservation ordinance, so a repaint needs no Certificate of Appropriateness. The Architectural Review Board handles demolitions, commercial and multi family work over $50,000 and permanent signs, not house repaints. A draft ordinance is in process, so that is where things stand today.
Tell us what you are thinking about painting and Michael will come out, walk it with you and put a detailed bid in writing. No charge, no pressure. Every project carries a 2 year written warranty and $1,000,000 in liability coverage.
Under the canopy
Pruning any tree in Alamo Heights takes a permit, with an exception for the owner or their regularly employed personnel. Any pruned limb or wound to an oak that exposes sapwood must be painted within thirty minutes with asphaltic or exterior oil or latex based paint.
The canopy the city calls one of its most recognized attributes also means shaded elevations dry slower. We schedule the washing and the dry time around them instead of pretending every wall behaves the same.
Why Alamo Heights homeowners call us
Michael Hernandez owns the company and walks every project with you himself. On a house this old, the estimate is mostly about prep: what is sound, what has to come off, and how it comes off without putting dust where it does not belong.
Every project carries a 2 year written transferable warranty of quality and $1,000,000 in liability insurance. Locally owned, based in 78216.
In their words
They did excellent work for a fair price and got it done quickly. This is by far the best contracting experience I have had in years.
We just used Michael Hernandez with Value House Painting. His crew is great and pays attention to details!
I would like to take a few minutes to thank you for a job well done. The interior painting looks amazing. Your crews that did the work were very professional, courteous and most of all diligent.
What we do here
We handle exterior painting, interior painting and commercial painting in Alamo Heights, and take on cabinet painting and refinishing or popcorn ceiling removal on their own. Everything is listed on the Value House Painting home page.
Next door in Terrell Hills, another separate incorporated city, a repaint needs no building permit either. In Monte Vista the housing is the same era but the rules are not, because that one is a designated historic district.
Wash, scrape, prime and caulk on pre 1978 siding and trim, with wood rot scoped before a color is picked.
See the prep that makes it last
Wall and ceiling repair, texture matching, trim and doors, plus cabinets refinished in place.
See what happens before the color
Popcorn texture scraped, wallpaper removed, and the surface underneath repaired before paint.
See how the ceiling comes downStraight answers
Very likely. The median home here was built in 1950 and roughly 70 to 74 percent of the city's housing went up in 1979 or earlier. The EPA rule treats pre 1978 housing as lead presumed unless testing shows otherwise.
A full exterior repaint is far past the 20 square foot exemption, so all of it applies. The owner gets the EPA Renovate Right pamphlet within 60 days of the start, acknowledged in writing 7 days out. Then: doors and windows within 20 feet closed, plastic sheeting 10 feet past the perimeter, no torching, heat guns under 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, no sanders, grinders or sandblasters without a HEPA vacuum at the point of dust generation, and cleaning until no dust or residue remains.
No. Painting is routine maintenance under code section 5-50(c), and there is no historic district here, so no Certificate of Appropriateness. The catch: replacing rotten siding, fascia trim, decking or doors only stays exempt with the same material and finished color.
Tell us before anything starts. Asbestos tile and shingle are common in Sylvan Hills and about a fifth of the Cottage District. We do not remove asbestos, and we do not grind, sand or blast siding that looks like it.
Shaded elevations dry slower and hold more mildew than a wall in full sun, so washing and dry time get scheduled around them. If an oak is pruned for access, exposed sapwood gets painted within thirty minutes.
Value you can count on
Tell us what you are thinking about painting and Michael will come out, walk it with you and put a detailed bid in writing. No charge, no obligation.
Free written bid
