BEP 03 · Brick Row
Interior and exterior house painting in Madisonville, across the town and along the Tchefuncte River, old wood included. Every job starts with a free written estimate at the property.
Madisonville · St. Tammany ParishWhat you get
The same four things on every Madisonville job, whether the house faces the river or sits back under the oaks.
We walk the property, then put scope, preparation, product and price in one document.
Washing, scraping, filling and priming are line items, not favors done if there is time.
Covered in Louisiana, on homes and on commercial property, and we will show you the paper.
Beds and floors covered, paths swept, and the drop sheets leave with us.
Why people call
Six reasons owners call in a small river town, and most of them are about water and shade.
The town stands on the Tchefuncte River just above the point where it enters Lake Pontchartrain, so buildings sit close to open water.
The riverbank is set among moss-draped oaks, and the state park describes a canopy of huge oaks shading the grounds. That canopy holds damp against a wall.
The Weather Service post-storm report for Hurricane Isaac in 2012 records surge flooding in areas next to the lake, Madisonville included. Repairs from water still need sealing before paint.
Older buildings here include a wooden former boardinghouse on Main Street from around 1880, and wood of that age is prepared, not covered.
The closest long-term stations record roughly 60 to 63 inches a year, which is what an exterior coat has to survive.
In a town with this much outdoor wood, the porch is usually the first thing that needs a coat.
What we paint
Six residential services and five commercial ones, available anywhere in Madisonville, riverfront included.
Walls, ceilings, trim and doors, painted room by room.
Siding, trim and porches, washed and primed before the finish.
Doors off, degreased and primed, then refitted where they came from.
The painting side of a remodel, sequenced around the other trades.
Siding, driveways and patios, at a pressure the surface can take.
Commercial work runs on the same footprint, phased around your opening hours.
Color and finish chosen around your brand, applied after hours so desks stay in use.
Hard-wearing coatings for high-traffic walls, floors and locker areas.
Low-odor systems and calm palettes for clinical and patient-facing spaces.
Scheduled into term breaks so classrooms come back ready to use.
Facades, walkways and parking lots washed down before any coating goes on.
On the job
Porches, rails and river facing wood, prepared by hand before anything is applied.
On the ground
Three things about a river town that change the preparation.
The river on one side and the lake two miles downstream both put water against buildings. A surface that has been wet is sealed first.
The town's older stock includes wood from around 1880, so filling, splicing and priming carry more of the job than the finish coats do.
Homes built before 1978 may contain lead paint, and the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule sets how those surfaces are disturbed.
When to book
Four signs the exterior is due on a riverfront property.
Bare wood that has weathered to gray has lost its coating and needs sanding back before anything else.
A line low down on a wall is a record of standing water, and it tells us where to check for soft material.
Under a heavy canopy, the shaded elevations speckle first, and washing is the step that makes the next coat hold.
Rust spotting through a painted board means the nails have to be treated before the board is repainted.
Local
Four reasons a small-town job is easier with a contractor already in the parishes.
Crews working these parishes year round know what humidity and wind-driven rain do to a coat.
The people who walk the property are the people on the ladder, not a call center.
We are close enough that snagging something after the job is a short drive, not a claim.
504-380-9862 reaches the people doing the work, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
How it runs
Four steps, with repairs priced in writing rather than found later.
Call or send the form. We agree a time and confirm it before we come.
We look at the actual surfaces, inside or out, and note what needs repair.
Scope, preparation, product and price, in writing. No verbal numbers.
Washing, repairs and priming first, then the finish coats.
Planning
Three things to settle before we start in Madisonville.
Anything that took water in a storm is treated as a repair first and a paint job second, and it belongs in the estimate.
Porch floors, deck boards, rails and ceilings weather at different rates, and they are worth quoting separately from the walls.
In this much shade, a washed wall takes longer to dry. We work the schedule around that.
About the area
What Madisonville is, in the words of the state encyclopedia and the Census.
Madisonville sits beside the Tchefuncte River, just two miles above its entrance into Lake Pontchartrain. It is on the lake's north shore.
Census Bureau population estimates list Madisonville town with an estimates base of 847 for 2020 and an estimate of 875 for 2024. The same record places the town in St. Tammany Parish, parish code 103.
Madisonville was one of the nineteenth century resort communities on Lake Pontchartrain's north shore favored by New Orleanians as a weekend retreat and as a summertime escape from the threat of yellow fever. After World War II its shipbuilding industry declined and the town now centers on leisure boating.
Around town
Four places in and around Madisonville, from the river to the state park.
The museum stands at 133 Mabel Drive in Madisonville and presents Louisiana maritime history, with a lighthouse on its grounds. It lists opening hours of 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The state park sits on 99 acres fronting the Tchefuncte River at 119 Fairview Drive. It holds 101 campsites, a group pavilion for up to 60 people, a playground, picnic areas and a quarter mile accessible nature trail, with access to both the river and Lake Pontchartrain.
The house inside Fairview-Riverside State Park was built in the 1880s as the family home of sawmill owner William Theodore Jay, then bought and renovated in the 1930s by Frank Otis, who used it as a summer home until his death in 1962. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The festival takes place on the town's downtown riverfront every autumn. It is organized by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum.
Next door
The towns near Madisonville, upriver and along the lake.
Covington formed upriver at the confluence of the Tchefuncte and Bogue Falaya rivers. The Louisiana state encyclopedia notes that crossroads and confluences made attractive city sites.
Mandeville is another nearby city on the north shore, with historic homes and a waterfront park at the edge of Lake Pontchartrain. It was established in 1834 on land that had been the sugar plantation of Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville.
Abita Springs is listed among the nearby communities and is reached by way of the Tammany Trace trail. The trail also links to Slidell.
We drive New Orleans and nine parish cities for a free walk-through. Tell us the address and we will say plainly whether yours is inside it.
Worth knowing
Four things about Madisonville that go back to the river.
Because of its position on the Tchefuncte, Madisonville became an important shipbuilding center and had four shipyards by the late nineteenth century.
During World War I the Jahncke Shipyard employed more than 2,000 workers. Since 2002 the site has held the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and Research Center.
William T. Jay bought land in 1885 and opened a sawmill, and by 1906 he employed almost one hundred workers who lived in the company town of Jayville. Jay sold the company that year to the Houlton Lumber Company, which renamed the town Houltonville.
The first lighthouse of 1838, where the Tchefuncte flows into Lake Pontchartrain near Madisonville, was replaced after the Civil War by a thirty four foot tapering brick cylinder. That structure now helps pleasure boats and fishermen navigate from the lake into the river.
Getting around
What public transportation reaches a town this size, and what does not.
Louisiana Highway 22 crosses the Tchefuncte River at Madisonville on a movable swing bridge. The state Department of Transportation and Development maintains it and has published closures for repairs to its electrical and hydraulic components.
St. Tammany Area Transportation is a demand response system operating within the boundaries of St. Tammany Parish, providing curb to curb rides booked by telephone rather than fixed bus routes. Urban service runs 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and rural service 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
St. Tammany Parish reports nine operational park and ride lots for commuters and vanpoolers, located in Abita Springs, Lacombe, Mandeville, Slidell and Pearl River. They also serve as transfer points for transportation providers.
The Causeway Bridge spans 24 miles over Lake Pontchartrain between the north and south shores. The Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission operates it around the clock with police, motorist assistance patrols and dispatchers.
Service areas
The eight other parish cities on our list, and New Orleans itself.
Inside New Orleans itself we work across the Garden District, Uptown, Carrollton, Mid-City, Lakeview, Gentilly, Bywater, Marigny, Treme, the Irish Channel and Algiers, on everything from Creole cottages and shotgun doubles to new-build and commercial property.
Questions
What Madisonville homeowners ask first.
Yes, anywhere in the town, inside and out. Interior rooms, exterior wood, porches and cabinets are all part of the work.
Yes, once it is dry and sound. The Weather Service recorded surge flooding here in 2012, and surfaces from that kind of repair need sealing and priming before a finish coat.
Yes, we paint older wood buildings in Madisonville. A wooden former boardinghouse on Main Street dates from around 1880, and on wood that old, most of the work is repair and priming.
It depends on the condition of the wood and on drying time, which runs longer under a heavy canopy. The written estimate sets out the order of work rather than promising a number of days.
Yes. Both are cities we cover, and both start with the same free written estimate.
Yes. We walk the property, look at the actual surfaces, and put scope, preparation, product and price in writing, with no obligation to book.
Yes, in Louisiana, and the cover applies to commercial jobs as well as homes. Ask us for proof before you sign anything.
9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Calling on 504-380-9862 is the quickest way to get a walk-through booked, and the form reaches us outside those hours.
Free estimate
Send the form and we will call to arrange a walk-through. If you would rather talk it through now, the phone is quicker.
We call to agree a time that suits you, and confirm it before the visit.
We walk the property, look at the actual surfaces and talk through color.
You get scope, preparation, product and price in writing, with no obligation.
Serving New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, Covington, Mandeville, Madisonville, Abita Springs, Hammond, LaPlace and St Rose.
Request Your Free Estimate
Loading the estimate form. If it does not appear, call 504-380-9862.
