About Mauricesklar

The Crew That Watches the Second Clock

Mauricesklar paints houses in Pasadena. We work out of California Blvd in the 91101 ZIP, and most of what we do is repaint work in homes people are still living in while we are there.

We describe the business by timing rather than by finishes because timing is the part of painting that this climate makes genuinely difficult. Warm dry air coming down off the San Gabriels will take a wall from wet to touch dry in under half an hour on a summer afternoon. Everything about that feels like an advantage, and for the first coat it sometimes is. What it does not do is speed up curing, which is the resin hardening into a film that can be leaned on, washed, and pressed against. That takes weeks regardless of how fast the water left.

Where That Shows Up

On interiors it shows up as staging. We finish rooms in an order that gives you somewhere to sleep that is already past the soft stage rather than handing back a whole floor of fresh walls on a Friday. On exteriors it shows up as us following the shade around the house and stopping on the west elevation in the early afternoon, because a stucco wall hot enough to flash the coating off gives you lap marks and a film that never bonds properly.

On doors and cabinets it shows up as a lot of parts racked and separated in a garage for longer than anyone would like. A door slab is the slowest curing thing in a house and the one most likely to be closed against another painted surface too early, which is how you get a door that has fused itself to the stop.

The Houses Here

A large share of the work is Craftsman bungalows, including a good number around Bungalow Heaven, plus Spanish Revival stucco and the shingle and wood siding that came with the same era. Those homes usually have original plaster walls rather than drywall, and plaster is denser and less thirsty, so coatings sit differently on it and take their own time.

They also predate 1978, which means the old layers under whatever is on the wall now can contain lead. We test before we disturb anything, and where the test is positive we use wet methods and containment or leave the layer sealed and undisturbed rather than open it up.

What We Will Tell You Not to Pay For

Not everything needs the full treatment. A ceiling in good condition rarely needs more than a wash and a coat. A guest room that gets used twice a year does not need the same flattening and sanding as a hallway with a west window throwing raking light down it every afternoon. We will say so, and we will quote it both ways if you want to see the difference on paper.

What we will not do is compress a job to a schedule the coating cannot meet and let you discover the problem when the furniture goes back. Call (626) 987-3694.