As painting contractors, we revere the inspiration of the architects responsible for the many historical and modern styles of housing in the Bay Area. In particular, we are awed by Victorian-era homes.
While painting these beauties, we feel that we get to reopen the channel for whatever inspiration was brought in when the houses were originally designed. As we restore and recoat a home’s surface, our work becomes an exercise in reconnection with and deep respect for the original designer and the many artisans involved in the construction, restoration, and maintenance of the home.
Arana has had the distinct pleasure of performing exterior restoration and painting services for a number of homes built throughout the Bay Area in the late 1800s and early 1900s; houses that fall into the genre of Victorian-era and related architectural movements; distinct categories such as Queen Anne, Late Victorian, Colonial Revival, and Classical Revival.
There is so much artistic detail on the exteriors of these structures that in some cases these houses, including those in our portfolio, have gone from being all-white to a canvas for as many as 7 — and up to even 11 — colors!
Like a human body, the homes that fall within the genre of “Victorian-era” have an anatomy, and those anatomical parts come with names and even symbolism! We feel that earlier builders really took to heart the magic that architectural details can create.
They started with something seemingly mundane — designing a house — and turned it into something reverential and reflective of spirit, spinning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
In this article we highlight specific architectural details from several of our East Bay Victorian-era home painting projects.
Special thanks to the Berkeley Architectural Historical Association (BAHA) who provided us with information on the types of homes in our portfolio and in some cases, the name of the architect, year built, and other valuable notes.
Finials
Found in lots of places, but typically at the apex of a roof like the one in the above photo, finials are among our favorite details. They come in all shapes and designs such those that curve and end in a point, orbs and even pinecones.
Metal finials can act as a lightning rod for the structure. The finial pictured at right, coated in that metallic gold, might be said to energize the connection to the heavens, serving as the home’s antenna to God.
Sunburst
This Queen Anne Victorian (pictured above for its finial and at the top of this page) also features a sunburst, in the homeowner-specified red-and-gold motif, which is perhaps a nod to the “setting sun” interpretation.
Per this quote in an article by Mary Jo Bowling in 7×7 Magazine:
“Sunbursts… could be reflecting a love of England, or perhaps they were a commentary of the times. ‘The sunburst was a popular motif in the late 1800s,’ says Caitlin Harvey of Left Coast Architectural History. ‘People who lived during that time considered it a golden age—there was a lot of optimism and many people were doing well financially. But some historians think they represent the British Empire, and the notion that the sun never set on the British Empire.’ She notes that, on some houses, the sunburst appears as a setting sun, which could be interrupted as a comment on the waning power and influence of England.”
Dentil
Dentil — sounds like dental! The word is a noun with the Latin root “dens,” meaning “tooth.” This is one of the most common details we run across as we paint houses in these various architectural styles. You can see dentils on a Queen Anne, for example, and in the Classical Revival style of the McCreary-Greer House (pictured above) on Durant Street in Berkeley.
This beautiful building is an architectural asset owned by and under the protection and oversight of the Berkeley Architectural Historical Society (BAHA). Could dentils be a nod to giving the home a voice? Or are they a symbol of protection as the gargoyle is, running along the seams of a home, sealing it off and chewing up any unwanted energy before it has a chance to enter the home?
Wheat Imprint
Pictured here above, the imprint of braided wheat decorates the corner of the protruding window frame. This is such a tiny detail, but so impactful. Thus, our treatment of these details is necessarily respectful and frankly, reverential.
Some scholars say that wheat may connote productivity, the reaping of years, and long life. These aesthetically-pleasing details may also be a secret signaling.
Like Masonic groups whose symbolism hides in many places in plain sight in America (look at the dollar bill!), Victorian-era architects and designers delighted in adding both beauty and meaning to home facades. This home is on Prince Street in Berkeley and is known as the John A. Hasselbacher House, built c. 1907-08 in the Colonial Revival style.
Gingerbread
As seen on this home (pictured above), Gingerbread refers to the decorative detail along the gable. Classic Gingerbread is often placed on the outer edge of the fascia. This detail is considered almost an overindulgence and does get extremely elaborate.
Gingerbread feels to us like a giddy celebration by the architect and builder — most likely a reflection of the joy they felt while building this home. Located on Lincoln Street in Berkeley, this house is a late-Victorian-era cottage (c. 1902) and happens to be the second of three houses that were built by John Paul Moran on a single piece of land.
Want to geek out even more on architectural history? Be sure to visit the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s website and sign up for their newsletter to get updates on educational walks and talks they offer. You can also ask them about your home’s history (even if it isn’t in Berkeley).
To geek out IRL: Check out the Alameda Heritage Homes Tour — an annual opportunity to go inside of several thoughtfully-preserved Victorian-era vintage gems: alameda-preservation.org
A stunningly thorough document of building information for historical homes, originally printed by the City of Oakland planning department in 1976 is available online in PDF format: “Rehab Right: How to Rehabilitate Your Oakland House Without Sacrificing Architectural Assets”
We recently interviewed a number of prominent Bay Area interior designers on their favorite shades of white for painting interiors. In this post, Dawn Carlson weighs in.
Carol Perry and Dawn Carlson of MAS Design
Dawn Carlson, MAS Design (https://masinteriordesign.com/): Sherwin Williams’ Incredible White
How would you describe your design aesthetic? We believe designs should be layered and unpredictable, that they should be curated so that each design speaks to who our clients are.
It’s about helping clients find what they love, what sanctuary means to them, and then elevating that so that it sings.
We love wabi-sabi, organic texture, and sculptural forms — all of which transcends most styles.
We like to say that the current that runs through our work is chic, fresh, and eminently livable.
What advice would you give to homeowners about choosing whites? We do have a favorite: Sherwin Williams’ Incredible White (the perfect name!) — it has a whisper of gray in it. Sherwin Williams is not a “designer” paint brand and so, price-wise it is accessible; and best of all, this white tends to work in almost every light!
I’ve never had a project that it did not look great in. Whites can appear too yellow, beige, pink…
This white always has a crisp, clean appearance and depth. You can do a whole house in it, and the look of it will vary from room to room, according to the light in each space, with just enough variation that it creates subtle interest, but also provides cohesion.
It’s definitely a go-to. We always tell our clients to look for a white with minimal hue, but not so stark that it ends up looking flat. When you narrow in on a selection, paint very large (3’ x 3’) samples in different rooms, next to your trims—in shadowy corners as well as sunny spots. Look at all of them at different times of day. The light will change a lot. This is a pretty sure-fire way to ensure that you’re going to love it, no matter what.
Do you have a project/story that demonstrates an unexpected or particularly spectacular use of white? One of our favorite projects was in Sonoma County, a getaway for one of our clients who live primarily in Japan and San Francisco: https://masinteriordesign.com/project/sonoma-county/ The clients had an uber-modern perspective, but wanted to mix it up a little due to the spectacular natural surroundings this vacation home enjoys. So we decided on Organic Modern for our design direction. We used Incredible White in all of the rooms in this home to juxtapose against the artisan/organic/imperfect elements and neutral hues that we brought in to give meaning and comfort to the clean, modern space.
The depth of the white gave in to the subtlety and textures that would complement the natural surroundings, and also showcased the organic elements by juxtaposing against them.
A Paler Shade of White: Meditations on Choosing White for Your Walls
I have a lot of conversations with homeowners and interior designers about color. Working primarily in the Bay Area, I’ve noticed that few homeowners choose white, especially for exteriors.
Bathroom; interior design by Quinn Morgan
I have my own ideas about this. Like, maybe it’s just too gray and foggy here for white. People want color to brighten things up!
When I travel to sunnier, southern locales (relative to our latitude), I see more candy-colors than muted tones, and far more white exteriors, perhaps inspired by the contrast against bold, blue skies. (Think coastal Greece, a hillside frosted with white houses, as an extreme example.)
But lately, white seems to be making a comeback. My company has seen an uptick in designers spec-ing more whites. White works well as a background, a neutral classic that highlights the art and furniture when used in interiors.
As a painting contractor, I love color, and yet I have to say, choosing white — whereas this used to be a “boring” default color — now we find it often elevates a space. Did the fact that Benjamin Moore named its “Simply White” as “Color of the Year” in 2016 have an influence on the growing trend?
Eichler living room in white, designed by LMB Interiors
At the time, the company noted in a press release for the announcement: “The color white is transcendent, powerful and polarizing – it is either taken for granted or obsessed over,” said Ellen O’Neill, Benjamin Moore Creative Director.
She continued, “White is not just a design trend, it is a design essential. The popularity of white, the necessity of white, the mystique of white is quantifiable in our industry. Of the top ten best-selling Benjamin Moore colors, variants of white occupy five spots. It was inevitable that we would ultimately recognize white as our Color of the Year.”
An art collector’s home, designed by Mead Quin
Frankly, white exteriors are still quite rare. But interiors…? Yes!
For this topic, we talked to a number of our favorite local designers about their favorite white paint colors for interiors, and projects they loved that featured this color (that isn’t really a color, but is).
When embarking on a new, fresh paint job for their home, whether inside or out, our beloved clients are almost always faced with a tough decision: What color?
For exterior painting, this is even more challenging because, in addition to this being the one time they may paint their home in 10-to-15 years, they have to consider how the colors they choose will mesh with the landscape and the neighbors’ homes — and they have to wade through the 3000+ color options that Benjamin Moore and other paint manufacturers have to offer!
How does one avoid overwhelm? How can one possibly choose the right color scheme that will speak to them — and create that feeling of joy — every time they arrive home?
This is definitely high stakes!
At Arana, we decided early on that the best way we can help our clients face and conquer this challenge is to offer a complimentary color consultation with all full-scale exterior (and full-scale interior) paint contracts — with one of our most trusted and talented professional color consultants: Cass Morris.
Cass (cassmorris.com) has not only once been a painting contractor herself, she is also a fine artist, and she has been in the color consulting industry for decades. What I love most about her (and this may be self-evident — that a color consultant would do this — but you would be surprised how often this is not the case) is that she chooses completely different color schemes for each of our clients. Her color schemes not only reflect the unique character of each unique home, but also reflect the uniquenesses of each of our clients.
One of the biggest challenges I see in my industry, day-in and day-out, is how to help people choose something other than white, beige, gray, or an otherwise neutral, safe color. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a well-chosen white (or even black!) but, at the same time, I LOVE color. So I appreciate how when our clients work with Cass, they get the direction they need to take what might feel like a risk — but really isn’t — because of her expert guidance.
One aspect of what makes her color schemes so successful is how Cass creates interior room palettes and whole house exterior paint schemes that are harmonious, not just in themselves, but also in relation to the rest of the house, inside and out, and to the neighboring houses on either side and the surrounding landscape.
All of us at Arana (and Cass) cannot emphasize enough what the power of a good paint job, and the right colors as well as color placement, have to impact a building, highlighting its strengths, and sometimes, more importantly, masking its flaws.
Cass says, “The right colors impact the energy of your environment, with the potential to make your surroundings more interesting and alive. We can choose colors that will accent the best architectural features while also drawing the eye away from lesser ones. This can shape and personalize your home or business by emphasizing a style (from traditional to ultra-modern) or creating a mood — anything from neutral and serene to saturated and exciting.”
She adds, “Color has always been important in my work whether it was in drawing, painting, textile design, in photographing in 35 countries, or as a former painting contractor myself.” While her advice and critique can be very direct and sometimes a bit abrupt, Cass’ consulting style is distinctly collaborative, rather than simply prescriptive. She emphasizes, “My goal as a consultant is to help my clients visualize the possibilities.”
There’s another aspect of Cass’ work that we’ve observed in our collaborations with her, to the point where it almost seems like magic. Cass chooses colors that match the people who live in or work in the environments. I have literally stood outside a client’s house, after her work and our work is done, looked at the newly-painted facade, and thought, those colors ARE that client.
(In this article: Before and after photos of a floating home in Alameda — a recent Arana project, with Cass as color consultant.)
“Color trends come and go,” Cass notes. “I’ve seen the fashion trend from earth tones to cool clean colors to the ever-popular neutrals and whites and back again; and from many-bright-colors to tone-on-tone to monochromatic palettes. I urge my clients to choose what suits them individually, rather than going by the latest trend.”
As our clients and friends know, one aspect of Arana’s mission is, by making homes beautiful and prolonging their useful lives, we feel we are helping our clients make the most of their assets (and in doing so, contributing to the overall well-being of communities). Cass agrees, “A good color palette is the most affordable way to update your environment and adds instant value to your property.”
Cass Morris (cassmorris.com) has worked with architects, contractors, homeowners, realtors, and business owners for over 25 years to select the color palettes that best suit their needs. She earned her A.A.S. from the College of Art & Design at R.I.T. and her B.F.A. from the State University of New York, College at Buffalo.
There’s more to landscape maintenance than just clearing weeds and pruning. Though it may quickly tidy up the place, not every landscape responds well to quick “mow and blow” treatments. Keep in mind that each plant species reacts differently to pruning, root disturbances, fertilizers, and watering methods.
Instead we encourage taking the effort to prune only to enhance each plant’s natural form, such as removing uneven or dead leaves from the base of a Flax or cutting stems and branches to mimic a plant’s natural growth pattern, or to better frame neighboring plants, boulders, or sculpture. Also knowing which time of the season and how to prune appropriately for each species are important factors not to overlook.
Appropriate care of your watering system involves maintaining an irrigation plan that best suits your garden and pocketbook. It’s important to know or hire a crew that is familiar with different kinds of irrigation controllers and systems that are appropriate to the moisture requirements of your garden.
If your sunny California native plantings are on the same timer as your Camellias and Rhododendron’s, root rot or other problems could develop, along with issues of wasted water. Keeping an eye out for water pooling from improper drainage, breaks in irrigation lines or a cracked nozzle are also important routine tasks. Having an idea of how your system functions is key to long term plant success.
The health of a garden is also largely dependent on the upkeep of the soil. There is an entire ecosystem beneath our feet which contains beneficial mycorrhizae and other creepy crawlies that help to supply nutrients and break down old plant matter. Adding amendments such as compost created from yard waste replenishes nutrients back into the soil and feeds your plants.
An appropriate amount of mulch which covers the soil in a depth of 1 to 2 inches helps to reduce evaporation and provides habitat for those beneficial critters and plant roots. Yearly replacement of mulch which has decomposed or blown away is also recommended. Keep in mind that the darker the color of the mulch the more sunlight will be absorbed, and that residual heat will reach your plants – which is more of a factor in hotter climates.
Chemicals and pesticides, while effective in some extreme situations, can be substituted for more natural options such as neem oil or iron phosphate baits, which fertilize plants and are harmless to people and animals. Our motto, as a green certified business, is to use fertilizers and use pest control products which are approved by the Bay Area Green Business and Bay Friendly Garden Program.
Suzanne Arca teaches horticulture and design studios at Merritt College and UC Berkeley Extension. She is an award winning landscape designer and contractor at Arca Design Group, Inc., winner of Oakland Magazine, Best of Oakland 2018. Visit www.arcadesigngroup.com or call (510)558-0636.
Many of us caught the edible garden craze a few years back, but some of us may have found that a farm-to-table garden isn’t always the most aesthetically appealing scene. This doesn’t have to be the case.
Using edibles in landscape design can increase the health and economic benefits we derive from our gardens, and can be done in such a way as to increase a garden’s visual appeal as well. Working within the bigger picture of the overall garden style, thoughtfully incorporating decorative containers, various plant forms, hardscape structures, and blending edibles with ornamentals, are all ways to enhance the ornamental garden while reaping the many benefits of growing your own food.
Although the traditional kitchen garden, potager, or parterre, has its own kind of traditional beauty, that may or may not jive with the aesthetic of your home or existing garden. Is your home and landscape modern, with clean lines and minimal plant materials? Consider swapping out the traditional wood planter boxes for Corten or stainless steel, in a variety of shapes and shades. Food-safe options for these are available.
Arranging your plantings in carefully chosen blocks of contrasting color and texture can also achieve a beautifully clean, minimalist look. Do you have a Mediterranean villa theme happening? Consider planting your favorite herbs, vegetables, or fruits in beautiful, deep ceramic pots, arranged in groups throughout the garden.
Some edible plants provide their own structural support, and some require additional support. This gives us an opportunity to play with the valuable element of verticality in our outdoor spaces. Vines such as beans and peas, grapes, or kiwi can form a delicious, living green wall. They can be trained onto an existing wall with a few wires, drape gracefully over arbors, allowing the fruit to hang for easy harvest, intertwine with artfully shaped bamboo or twig structures, or climb the living wood of another plant.
Fruiting trees provide another opportunity for creating sculptural vertical elements in the garden with some regular aesthetic pruning, the traditional art of espalier. An added benefit of espaliering fruit trees is that they can fit into narrow spaces, such as along a wall. Not enough space for a traditional orchard in your yard, you say? With espalier techniques, you still get to have some fruit trees!
Another strategy many aesthetically minded gardeners employ is the blending of the edible elements with the ornamental landscape. In some cases, this benefits our tender and high-maintenance annual food crops, by providing a more ecologically diverse climate for them. Companion planting can increase resistance to pests and improve soil nutrition.
Some of our vegetables also have aesthetically appealing qualities of their own such as flowers, fruit, interesting leaf texture or color, or plant structure, which can provide visually interesting components that change with the seasons. Think of the bold statement made by the flowers of chives or artichokes, the deep violet drama of a red cabbage or tree collard leaf, the verticality of a stalk of corn, or the way a pomegranate tree transitions from golden-leafed to red-globed glory in the fall.
While annual edible plants may sometimes require more maintenance than your average perennial ornamental gardens, the benefits they offer are multi-faceted. Being in touch with the rhythm of the seasons brings not just food to the table or a reason to work up a sweat outside, but psychological benefits as well. For gardeners with less time on their hands, there are plenty of nurseries that sell small vegetable starts—no waiting for seeds to germinate. Also, not to be overlooked, is the fact that the Bay Area offers the unique gift of a year-round growing season.
All it takes to get started is tucking a few herbs into the edge of that bed by the back door, and you’ll be on your way. Along with enjoying the visual beauty of your garden, why not enjoy the taste?
Suzanne Arca, ASLA, ALPD, CLCA is the Founder and Principal of Arca Design Group, a full-service design-build landscape architecture firm based in the East Bay. Arca Design Group is a Certified-Green and -Bay-Friendly landscaping company. Suzanne is also an instructor in the Landscape Architecture and Landscape Horticulture departments at U.C. Berkeley and Merritt College. Contact her to design your dream garden! arcadesigngroup.com
As painting contractors, we at Arana are very attuned to the needs of the homeowners we serve, and the desire that many people have these days to be more “green” when it comes to certain products, processes, and material choices. One example is the increasing appeal and popularity of solar. In our position, we look at solar from a purely logistical perspective. In the order of operations, if you are thinking of adding solar to your roof, you would do that before hiring us to do an all-over exterior paint job, and after any repairs or roof replacement that your roof might need.
But, when the state of California recently announced that all cars must be electric-powered by 2035, we became intensely interested in the subject! In general, we agree that “green” is good. And overall, solar is good. However, we noticed that the recent announcement brought into focus for us certain questions like: Is the transition to solar truly as green as it intends to be? What is the intent vs. the impact of changing over to green technologies? And who actually gets to take advantage of green technologies and practices?
If there is a transition from gas powered cars to electric, by association, it seems clear that there needs to be a transition to alternative power sources, like solar, to further reduce reliance on fossil fuels. From our perspective, it is interesting to consider that a push for electric cars and solar to support that would also place more “power” in individuals’ reach, decentralizing energy production and control.
That then points to the question of equitable access to energy. The recent heatwave further highlighted serious concerns about the reliability of the grid overall when in the same breath, while stating the intention for all of us to go all electric, the state then asked residents to refrain from charging their electric cars at home so as not to strain the grid!
So, in 2035 California, if you have an electric car AND solar, you might be okay? If not, you might be staying home that day from work?
Having had personal experience with solar over the past two years in a rural area prone to grid disruption, Ernesto and I have our own opinions on whether the solar industry needs more time to mature before it can be a dependable and affordable source of energy for all. In addition, there are the potential social and environmental impacts relating to the mining of lithium required for batteries, which also leads to inconsistent supply; plus many more skilled contractors and reliable parts suppliers and manufacturers are going to be needed to support the increasing demand.
(See our blog article “Bay Areas Schools Train Next Gen Tradespeople“ for further discussion regarding the challenges of increasing the base of available and competent contractors.)
For an in-depth look at the ins-and-outs of solar, and to explore some of the complex questions that arise around this topic such as equitable access and long-range viability, we interviewed our colleague, Ben Giustino, a licensed general contractor and solar installation expert with A1 Sun (a1suninc.com). Ben has 15 years of experience working in solar power and energy storage, working alongside his parents since the founding of the Company in 2007.
The family’s interest in solar power traces back to Ben’s father, Larry Giustino’s childhood. Larry manufactured a photovoltaic cell through a Bell Telephone Lab school program in San Diego in elementary school at age 11 — and his experience continued through designing solar and thermal systems in the 1970s and 80s, and on to the 2000s. Ben and his family’s passion for and knowledge of the solar industry make them an ideal resource for our customers and we are excited to share this interview with you.
What is your process for advising a homeowner on how big/what capacity system they will need? What are the pros and cons?
An average 2,000 square foot home uses around 6,600kWh/year. If you have a South-facing roof, free of shading, that would be a roughly 4kW solar array. However every home is unique. In other words, two identical houses could have completely different consumption rates based on occupancy and how that individual (or family) uses electricity. We size systems for homes based on consumption, roof space, and budget.
The cost of installing solar essentially is you prepaying for all of the electricity your new system will produce over its whole usable lifetime. Solar is expensive up front. You want to make sure you have a design that works for you. You also want to make sure you get a good installer that will be there to service the system.
How do factors such as pitch of roof, presence of trees, direction it faces, determine if someone can use solar power?
For a good installation, you have to take into consideration anything that is important to the homeowner, plus site challenges or constraints. In certain situations, solar is not a good idea. The main reason you wouldn’t want to install solar is if there is no access to sun. The more sun on your roof, the better the power production and the cost-effectiveness of solar. As long as you have sun, solar makes sense at any scale. With access to sun, you can produce enough power to operate a single cell phone, to a single residence, to an apartment complex, to an entire city.
In order to have access to power at night, you will need to pair solar with storage and/or other forms of generation.
People should be aware that an old roof that needs to be replaced, old electrical that needs to be upgraded, a difficult site, a steep roof, lots of shading, etc., all affect how expensive it is to install a system and/or how quickly a system pays back.
One thing I would advise is to never think you should install solar on a roof that needs to be replaced. You really want to install a system and then maintain it for as long as you can. The longer your system operates, the less expensive it is to produce each kWh of energy. Let me repeat that for the people in the back, The longer your system is in operation, the less expensive each kWh of produced energy gets.
A cool thing to look for will be vehicle to home or vehicle to grid. This is where not only can you use the solar to charge your car, you can also use the car to power your home or offset peak demand on the grid in the evening. This is possible, but still just in its infancy. It will be a few years before code, vehicles, and technology are aligned. Currently, it’s awesome just to be able to charge your car from solar.
How does becoming energy-independent work? Self-supply electricity at home, with a battery?
Since this is a newsletter focused on homeowners, and residential solar and storage is what I do, I’ll stick with homes as the scale to focus on. But really, since solar is scalable, what I’m saying about homes can be scaled up as big as you want to go (*with some serious details to take into account) or down to powering a calculator.
So there are essentially three ways to generate and/or store electricity in a home. These can be mixed and matched:
A. Solar that is grid tied with no battery
This is the majority of solar systems you see in your neighborhood today. During the day you produce power. You export the energy you don’t use on site to the grid. Those kWh are banked at the rate exported by the utility, who sells it to your neighbors. Then at night, you consume power, which the utility adds to your bill. At the end of the year the utility gives you a yearly “True Up” bill where they either bill you for net usage or give you a credit for over consumption (at wholesale). This explanation is an oversimplification of NEM which are the interconnection rules for generation facilities.
Grid-tied-no-battery is actually the most cost effective way to have solar on your home. It is also the most environmentally friendly way to have solar, because it uses less components, meaning it takes up less raw materials, less carbon emissions from shipping from the manufacturer, etc.
B. Solar with battery which is also grid tied
All of the NEM rules still apply with imports and exports of kWh, but what happens when you have batteries is that you store your energy and use it on site, rather than exporting and importing from the utility.
This has some financial return, but it does not currently improve ROI because of the cost of the batteries. The real reason to have batteries is if you need power when the grid goes down.
Currently the reasons I would advise batteries is if:
You rely on a medical device that needs access to power during a blackout
Loss of power would lead to financial losses, such as with a home-based business, which would offset the cost to install
If you just really want batteries
If the current cost to install batteries is insignificant to you
If you are prepping for complete collapse of the grid — in which case, make sure you prep other things like food, water, bow and arrows for the zombies…
OK, joking about the zombies. But, if you can’t say yes to any of the rest of those bullet points, my suggestion would be to wait on batteries.
As technologies continue to evolve in the industry, batteries will get better than what we have now; there will be more options that will be more capable, and hopefully cheaper, in the future.
You can always retrofit an existing grid tied solar array with batteries later.
Taking your system off grid is possible with batteries, however, you either want to slim down what you are trying to back-up or supersize your solar and battery — and get ready to fight PG&E. It is theoretically legal in California to leave the grid entirely; however current building code requirements include connection, meaning that homeowners are unlikely to get cleared for it.
C. Generator
You can also leave the grid by relying on a generator — by itself, or paired with battery back-up and solar. Currently powering a generator means relying on gas or diesel, but as time goes on, who knows? The downside of generators is that they are noisy, need refueling, need maintenance to operate, and typically are only used in outages.
What else do you want our readers to know about switching to solar?
Being able to produce and store your own electricity allows you to be potentially more self reliant. Right now it makes sense to get solar because you get good interconnection rules, it creates an eventually carbon negative generation source, and it helps to push California/USA/the world’s generation towards renewable electricity generation.
Now or later, you can add storage. Lithium based batteries are finally at scale, meaning they are relatively affordable with less maintenance required (as compared to Lead Acid batteries). They also allow you to store your cleanly generated power and use it on site. Batteries also can be used to help reduce peak evening demand on the grid, as your system will likely be exporting power to your neighbors in the evening.
However, batteries will get better. I’m hopeful for more environmentally-friendly batteries. My personal favorite (which is a viable option now) is Saltwater batteries. In theory, they are great for stationary applications, pose no fire danger, rely on plentiful ingredients, are relatively benign, and are reusable/recyclable. However, they are limited in how much energy they can store and deliver, compared to other battery types, are larger in size, and cost is still fairly prohibitive. We will see, as time goes on, how this technology evolves.
How does individual homes switching to solar impact the larger community? The environment?
Solar in general is beautiful. Producing Electricity from the sun. Solar on homes is practical. You are making something you need right on site where you need it. Storage makes sense because then you can store energy for when you need it. Solar and Energy Storage as an industry also creates good-paying local careers world-wide, and hopefully more domestic manufacturing jobs, as the industry grows.
The more solar that is installed, the greener the energy mix on the grid is during the day. While solar does take natural resources to create, the longer it is in use, the more CO2 emissions it offsets. In reality, solar panels can last for 50+ years. I’ve seen panels from the 70s still in use on an off-grid home in Northern California. If you charge your car from your solar, you reduce the footprint of having a car, which is still not insignificant, but every bit of reduction is good.
How do we (as responsible members of our local communities) make solar generated power more available to those who cannot afford to put a system on their roof? To renters?
There are many options here. The biggest pathway to making solar more accessible would be to have the apartment complexes or communities join together to install one shared system, with renters or lower-income homeowners having the option to buy into that system.
The larger the system, the lower the cost-per-watt to install, the more people that start-up cost is divided between, the cheaper your electricity gets. In the industry, this is known as “Community Solar.” Community Solar, also called “Shared Solar,” is essentially a private enterprise, multi-owner-collective, or government entity building a micro-grid — and PG&E does not like that.
To learn more about this issue of unequal access and possible solutions, visit:
Currently, Yes. And at rates that make it practical to make the investment and have it payback in a reasonable amount of time.
Is solar getting cheaper as the industry evolves?
Yes and no. Over the past 15 years, solar has gotten less expensive to install. Panels are less expensive, equipment is better, and companies can generally do it better and/or faster. But the utilities companies don’t like Solar. Solar impacts their profit margins. Thus, they work to make it more difficult/expensive to install with added bureaucracy, rules, fees, etc.. Utility companies are actively trying to undermine the financial value of producing your own power.
So, while solar has gotten cheaper, utility companies are actively doing what they can to reestablish monopoly. NEM 3.0 (a revised “Net Energy Metership” policy) is their all-out attack on distributed renewables, a.k.a. rooftop solar, and this proposal is currently being debated by the California Public Utilities Commission.
If you want to get involved with advocating for your right to have and benefit from solar, visit: solarrights.org
Does a solar system have to be replaced/updated every 10 or 20 years?
Depending on how well-sized, designed, installed, and maintained it is, a modern solar system can operate well beyond the 25 years the modules and inverters are warranted for. Systems can also be updated over time with more panels, batteries, car chargers, home automation, etc.
The only part of the system that will need to be replaced over decades of use should be the inverters. Given the quality of current materials on the market, and if your system is well-installed, you should be able to use the panels and hardware/wiring/etc. for the next 50 years, or at least, in my mind, that is the hope.
All photos in this article provided by A-1 Sun, except for the featured/top image.
In February our daughter Sofia was accepted into the Academy for Business and Finance at our local San Leandro district high school. The Academy is a three-year program that provides academic and technical training to prepare students for the workforce as well as for higher education.
These types of programs are a critical resource at a time when college tuition grows more out of reach for many families — and are imperative for businesses as the availability of skilled office — and field-labor has become more-and-more limited.
As described in a recent article, “Oakland Schools Go Back to the Future With Vo-Tech,” in Oakland Magazine, paraphrasing Emiliano Sanchez, Oakland Unified School District’s director of Career Technical Education trades and apprenticeships, “It’s been at least a couple decades since the vast majority of Oakland students got any exposure to anyone in their K-12 education who knew anything about the merits of going into the skilled trades.”
The article notes the shortage of skilled labor nationwide, as well as in Oakland. There is a concern that with more than 50 percent of the skilled-trades workforce due to retire in the next five-to-10 years:
“Right now, the average age of an apprentice is 28, which means that people graduate from high school at 18 and they basically float around for 10 years until they find construction as a meaningful career,” says Sanchez. “There won’t be enough talent to fill that void, if we aren’t lifting it up in the schools.”
In her “College and Careers” class, Sofia shared with me that a presentation was given by a local plumbing union, stating that the electrical and plumbing trades are lucrative and viable long-term career options for students.
This is great news for many of our industry colleagues who search month-after-month for viable candidates to hire!
The effort to create an educational system that is relevant and enables students to step into a real-world career more quickly also upgrades the utility of OUSD public schools at time when they face increasing pressure. The most recent teacher strike highlights the budget and political issues the system has been facing.
Oakland is not the only school district offering these types of pathways for students. San Leandro offers even more varied options including the San Leandro Academy for Multimedia (SLAM) and the Social Justice Academy (SJA) and Academy for Business and Finance (ABF). The district has always maintained Its Auto and Wood Shop.
The San Leandro school district website states, “The purpose of the Academies is to help students excel through rigorous courses and introduce them to career options and paths for after high school. Acceptance in an academy requires an application.” Sofia also interviewed for the position. Read more
As Oakland Magazine reports regarding the OUSD career-track offerings: “In the past couple of years, the Oakland school district has placed a greater emphasis on career technical education under its new ‘linked learning’ initiative, also known as ‘wall-to-wall pathways.’ In linked learning, nearly every Oakland public high school student in the city must select an academic career path or academy — such as health, engineering, computer science, biotechnology, or architecture and design — by the 10th grade, with hopes that it will encourage more students to graduate and motivate them toward real world careers.”
Sanchez addresses the stigma of blue-collar careers such as those in Construction. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s been easy. But my work has been working with individuals and trying to show them that skilled trades also are applied math and sciences. It’s all part of the same realm — architecture, construction, and engineering. All three go together. You can’t have one without the other, and there’s just no success without the other. If an architect designs something, but there’s never an engineer, and it never gets built out, all he did was a nice drawing and stuff.”
You may not realize it, but painting is as much about the process a painter uses as the painter themselves! At Arana Craftsman Painters, we leave little to chance because we follow a tried-and-true set of steps.
These crucial steps are our “secret sauce” so to speak and it has allowed us to consistently build a reputation of reliability, exceptional quality and professionalism over the last 17 years.
The steps to exceptional exterior painting include:
Protecting your home and environment (surrounding surfaces, land- scaping, vehicles, etc.)
Scraping/sanding to remove old layers of paint that will negatively impact the integrity of your new paint at a standard that meets our 5 Year Warranty
Five Year Warranty
Thorough cleaning of the exterior of your home or property to remove any contaminants
Priming, Caulking and Patching
Exceptional Painting
These are our “3P’s” of a successful project and the key to why people love working with Arana Craftsman Painters!
Planning & Staging
Pre-Job Walkthrough: Our Production Manager will meet with you prior to the scheduled project start date to confirm the start date, scope, sequencing, and colors. Essentially, all expectations are reconfirmed to assure a smooth handoff between our Estimator and our Production Department. Proper communication is the key to exceptional quality and to you having a great painting experience. At this point, when we arrive at your project, our Crew Leader and Crew have a solid plan as to what processes will take place first, and in what areas.Lincoln-street-2-1
Color Consultation: Arana Craftsman Painters works with top San Francisco Bay Area Color Consultants and on projects needing a consultation, the Consultation is included in our bid. Having colors chosen ahead of time makes your life so much easier. We’ll even put up swatches so you can see the color in real life and make a final decision.
Set-up: We set up a neat and organized area for our equipment, tools, and products, a home base, where we can safely and efficiently manage your project.
Dedicated Team: In addition to a dedicated Production Manager, every project has a dedicated Crew Leader who works closely with you, our Production Manager, and our office, to assure timely resolution to any challenges that arise, as well as quality control, sequencing, and assuring that you have an amazing painting experience!
Protection
We invest heavily in all the correct tools and materials and use quality plastic, drop cloths, paper, and tape to protect the surfaces of your home and environment that are not scheduled to be painted.
Preparation
Paint will not adhere properly without expert preparation. Proper preparation is the cornerstone of exceptional quality.
We sand, scrape, and prime as appropriate to ensure proper adhesion. We contain particulate and dust exposure per Environmental Protection Agency safety standards and Arana Craftsman Painters is an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Contractor. EPA Lead-Safe Firm
For the safety of everyone involved, are all the painting contractors you have bidding on your project EPA Lead-Safe Certified?
After primer is applied, we patch, caulk and fill for aesthetic and in some cases sealing purposes or to prevent water incursion.
Cabinet painting is the easiest way to create a major change in your kitchen without demolition, dust, and downtime. You don’t have to break through walls or change out cabinets in order to experience a complete refresh and transformation of your space. It’s also an economical and eco-friendly choice, preserving our forests (and budgets) by re-using existing wood rather than replacing with new.
The photos we are sharing in today’s article are from a client’s gorgeous Mediterranean mansion in Piedmont. The kitchen cabinets were a combination of painted (olive) and a serviceable blond-wood stain. Taking them to the next level with a refinish and paint, and choosing to unify the look with a single cabinet color, utterly transformed the room.
The Process: After carefully removing all of the cabinet doors and drawers, every surface has to be thoroughly sanded, and any needed cosmetic repairs are made to the underlying wood at this stage. And then we apply a stain-blocking primer to prevent the color of the original wood from bleeding through the layers of new paint, which is the last step.
For the painting industry nerds among us: this project features Renner paint (www.rennerwoodcoatings.com) — a product we have been working with more recently that we are really liking. It has more urethane than similar finishes, which means it dries a little harder and is potentially longer-lasting.
While repainting is a much cheaper option than tearing out the old and installing brand-new factory-painted-and-baked cabinets, we like to make sure our clients understand that new cabinets would be more resilient than refinished ones.
Given the beating that all kitchens take, especially in the higher traffic areas — around the sink and silverware drawer, and on the side of the island or countertop that hosts tall stools, the need for touch-ups with refinished cabinets will be more likely. This is a very important factor to consider. Thus, if you are a DIY-type, or not too finicky about scuff marks, refinishing rather than replacing might work well for you.
