Medina's housing stock, from acreage to executive subdivisions
Medina covers 27 square miles and was farm country until it started suburbanizing in the 1970s, so the housing here comes in layers. The west and north sides still have a lot of acreage homes from the 1970s through the 1990s, many of them with cedar or hardboard siding and stained interior trim. Around Hamel and along Hwy 55 you get the subdivisions: Foxberry Farms, which wrapped around Lake Medina from the mid-1990s into the early 2000s, and newer ones like Bridgewater near Holy Name Lake, The Enclave and the Reserve of Medina. Those are big two-story homes with a lot of interior surface: two-story foyers, open stair halls, tall trim and large kitchens. Repainting one is closer to a small commercial job than a rambler, and we scope it that way.
Weather and exposure on Medina lots
Medina lots run large, and large lots mean trees. Wooded sites in Medina behave like the ones in Independence: the sunny south and west walls fade and chalk, while the shaded north wall and anything under a tree canopy stays damp and grows mildew. On the executive subdivisions, the tall two-story walls and the gable ends over garages are the hard parts of an exterior; that is high ladder or lift work, and it is where the sun does the most damage to dark trim colors. Homes on the wooded lots near Lake Medina and Holy Name Lake get the same shaded-lot moisture as lake homes anywhere. We stage exteriors here between roughly May and mid-October and keep the shaded walls for the driest stretch of the job.
Where we work in Medina
Hamel is the historic core, right on Hwy 55, and the subdivisions west and north of it are where most of our Medina repaints happen. We also work the acreage roads off County Road 19 and County Road 24, the Loretto side (Loretto is a separate small city sitting inside Medina's northwest corner), and the newer builds along the Hwy 55 corridor near the Polaris headquarters. Medina is split among the Orono, Delano, Rockford and Wayzata school districts, which is a fair map of how varied the neighborhoods are. The drive from our shop is about 15 minutes, so Medina gets the same quick sample visits and second looks that Independence does.
Interior painting in Medina
A lot of Medina houses are big inside: two-story foyers, open stairwells, coffered ceilings, painted built-ins, white kitchens. That is exactly the kind of interior work we do for builders, and repainting one after ten years of living is the same trade with more masking. Winter is our busiest interior season, and Medina is close enough that we can run a job in stages around your family. Before you call, it helps to see How interior painting goes, and what moves the cost.
Exterior painting in Medina
Medina exteriors split two ways. The executive homes from the 1990s and 2000s are mostly hardboard, LP or fiber cement with a lot of trim and tall gables, and the work is prep plus height. The older acreage homes are cedar and hardboard with shaded walls that peel first. Either way we wash, scrape, spot-prime and caulk before color, and we plan the shaded sides for dry days. See exterior house painting and siding painting.
Where we work in Medina
- Hamel
- Foxberry Farms
- Bridgewater
- The Enclave
- Reserve of Medina
- Fields of Medina
- Loretto
Painting services in Medina
Questions from MedinaStraight answers.
Do you paint new custom homes in Medina for builders?
Yes. Finish painting for west-metro custom builders is a regular part of our work, and Medina is where a lot of those homes are going up. That means primed drywall, trim, built-ins and sprayed cabinets on the builder's schedule. If you are the homeowner on a build, you are welcome to talk to us directly about colors and finishes.
Can you repaint the trim and built-ins in a 2000s Medina two-story?
That is one of the most common jobs we do here. Trim, wainscoting and built-ins from the late 1990s and 2000s are usually an older enamel that has yellowed. We clean, scuff sand, bonding-prime and put two coats of a hard enamel on, sprayed where we can mask it off and brushed where we cannot.
Our Medina house has a two-story foyer and stairwell. Can you reach it?
Yes. Tall foyers and open stairwells are ladder, plank and sometimes scaffold work, and they take longer than the square footage suggests. We set up so the stairs stay usable overnight, mask the railings and floors, and paint the ceiling first. This is the part of a big house where cut corners show, so we do not cut them.
How far is Medina from your shop, and does that affect the schedule?
About 15 minutes. Our shop is in Independence, and County Road 19 runs up through Loretto to Hwy 55. Medina is close enough that we can split a job into stages, come back for touch-ups, or stop by to check a color sample in your light without it costing you a day of waiting.