Chagrin Falls may be the most painted village in Ohio. White clapboard, black or dark-green shutters, wraparound porches, and a historic district ringing the Triangle and the falls — the paint is part of the town’s identity, and everyone can see it from the sidewalk. That raises the bar on the work. Here is how we approach a village exterior, what we brush instead of spray, and what each part costs.
Clapboard: the white is the easy part, the prep is the job
Most village homes are painted wood clapboard, and most of it has been white for a century. White hides nothing. Every failed edge, every cupped board, every nail head shows in the low sun off the river. The condition of the boards, not the color, decides the tier: sound paint is a wash, scuff, spot prime, and two coats; peeling to bare wood is a full scrape and sand, prime, caulk, and two coats. Walk the north and river-facing sides first — moisture off the falls and the Chagrin holds longest there.
- Standard siding, sound paint, wash-prep-two coats: $281 per 100 square feet
- Wood siding full restoration, peeling to bare wood: $2,700 per 100 square feet
- Whole-house pressure wash, first on every job: $1,500 flat
- We price each elevation in its own tier; a sound south side does not pay for a failed north side
Porches, columns, and shutters: brushed, not sprayed
A wraparound porch is a hundred edges — column bases, rail caps, spindles, bead-board ceiling, the fascia line above. A sprayer is faster and cheats every one of them: overspray on the brick, thin film on the edges that fail first. We brush porch systems and shutters by hand so the film is full on every edge, and we take shutters off the house to paint the backs and the wall behind them.
- Soffit, fascia, porch trim, and railing runs, scraped, primed, two coats: $150 per linear foot in two colors, $125 in one
- Storm door refinished: $300
- Shutters, doors, and column bases quoted per piece from the walkthrough
The original windows
Village homes from the 1840s through the 1920s still carry wood double-hung sash with wood storms. Sound paint gets a repaint; lifting paint or cracked glazing gets restoration, and every storm and screen comes off the house for either. Restoration keeps the divided lights and profiles the historic district wants to see.
- Repaint window, one color: $75; two colors: $150
- Restored window, sash and trim — scrape to sound wood, sand, re-glaze, prime, two brushed coats: $506
- Storm window or screen refinished off the house: $75 per piece ($225 for two storms and a screen)
- Complete restored unit, sash plus three storm pieces: $731
Bainbridge, South Russell, and the wooded lots
Outside the village, the same crew handles the wooded properties in Bainbridge and South Russell — more shade, more mildew pressure on north-facing siding, more cedar shake. Those get a wash and mildew treatment before any primer, and the tiers above apply the same way. Materials are billed at cost on top of every line, and a lift for three-story work is billed at cost.
Get the number before the season fills
Chagrin Falls exteriors book early because the season is short and the houses are big. Count your siding by tier, your windows by condition, and your porch trim in feet, and the instant estimator on this site will give you a range in about two minutes using the prices above. Or send photos of the north side to 440-382-5701 — most Chagrin Falls estimates are back within 24 hours, and the price will match what you just read.
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