The same floor plans fail in the same places
Ranches and bi-levels make up a large part of the housing here, many with brick on the lower front and painted wood or hardboard siding above it and on the sides. When we walk one of these houses, we start where trouble usually starts:
- Fascia boards at the low corners and under gutter outlets, where overflow water sits.
- The horizontal trim where siding meets the top of the brick, which catches water on its upper edge.
- Window sills and the bottom rail of window trim on south and west walls.
- Garage door jambs and the trim beside them, which take splashback and deicer spray from the driveway.
- The lowest course of siding behind shrubs and near sprinkler heads.
- Front door and storm door frames on the sunny side.
If those spots are soft, the job includes carpentry before paint. Wood replacement, priming and caulking are covered on our exterior prep and repair page.
Lead is the default assumption on these houses
Nearly every house from Northglenn's original build-out predates 1978, which is the line the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule uses for homes that may contain lead-based paint. Under several later coats, that original paint is still there. When we scrape or sand, we treat it as lead unless a test says otherwise.
In practice that means plastic sheeting on the ground under every work area, wet scraping instead of dry, HEPA vacuums for cleanup, and keeping kids and pets out of the work zone until it's cleaned. It's slower than tearing into the walls with a power sander. It's also the only responsible way to prep a 1960s house that a family still lives in.
Siding above brick, and the brick itself
The siding-over-brick layout puts a lot of stress on one spot: the ledge where the two materials meet. Water sits on top of the brick, wicks into the bottom edge of the siding and lifts the paint from below. We check for flashing at that ledge, prime and seal the bottom edge of the siding, and leave intentional drainage gaps open instead of caulking them shut.
Then there's the brick. Unpainted brick on these houses usually doesn't need paint, and once it's painted it needs repainting from then on. If yours was painted years ago and is now peeling, a breathable masonry coating is the right product, since a film that traps moisture in the brick will peel again after a few winters of freeze-thaw. Our trim and fascia painting page covers the fascia, soffit and door work that usually goes along with a repaint like this.
Updating colors on a mid-century house
Many Northglenn homes still wear a version of the colors they were built in, and a repaint is the natural point to change that. A few principles hold up on these houses. The brick isn't changing, so body and trim colors have to work with its tone. High-altitude sun makes mid-tone colors look lighter on the wall than on the chip. And dark colors on south-facing walls fade fastest.
Brush large sample patches on two sides of the house and look at them in morning and late-afternoon light before committing. If your home falls under an HOA or recorded covenants, check those before you pick anything bold.
Season, weather and getting on the schedule
Northglenn sits at roughly 5,400 feet along I-25, open to the east and exposed to the usual north metro hail in late spring and summer. The reliable painting stretch runs from late May into September, with good days in May and October when daytime and overnight temperatures stay inside the product's data sheet limits. Homes in neighboring Thornton share a lot of the same 1950s and 1960s housing on its older south side. When you want someone to walk your house, request an estimate.
