Exterior coatings is a broad term to blanket any coating on a building, whether it’s stucco, paint, or any other material meant to coat the exterior. The National Park Service uses the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The NPS has broken the Standards and Guidelines into four categories, Preservation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Reconstruction. Each of the four defines the use of a historic property and expectations for the type of work to be completed.

Using the information laid out by the NPS any exterior coatings need to go through a series of questions to determine whether it is historically significant to the building. Typically, any original paint or signage is significant to the history of the building. Paint and signage can be restored back to the original vibrancy. Colors and composition are typically able to be exactly matched.

When a coating is determined to not be historic to the building it is often required to be removed. Modern techniques make it possible to remove paint from brick to wood regardless of how many times it has been painted. This allows the historic character of a building to shine. Per the NPS the techniques used to remove these coating must be done in such a way to not damage the structure underneath. Often, brick (especially historic) is meant to “breathe”. This allows moisture to escape and the building to thermally regulate itself. When a historic building gets painted it loses the ability to shed moisture and breath, this can cause several issues to the interior spaces.