Painting Downers Grove homes, Sears kit houses included

Downers Grove incorporated in 1873, grew around its three railroad stations, and had 50,266 residents in 2020. Up to two hundred Sears houses have been identified in the village, one of the largest concentrations anywhere, and downtown's Tivoli Theatre dates from 1928.

Those older houses were built from precut lumber with clapboard siding and wood windows, and after a century they usually carry many coats of paint. Repainting them well means scraping to a sound edge, repairing soft sills and trim, priming bare wood and working lead-safe.

The rest of the village is mostly post-war ranches and later subdivisions, where the calls are for interiors, cabinets and trim.

Older Downers Grove houses often have small details that newer homes lack, such as porch brackets, window hoods and decorative trim boards, and those details need hand brushing rather than spraying. We also check for soft wood at the bottoms of porch posts and window sills, which is where these houses usually need repairs first.

Downers Grove sits between our Naperville service office and our Elmhurst head office along I-88, so either can schedule your walkthrough.

Downers Grove is part of our DuPage County coverage.