Home base: painting the newer houses of Waunakee
GK Painting's home village, a railroad stop that never stopped growing. What being based here means when you call, and what its 1990s and 2000s houses ask of paint.
Of the twelve towns on our list, Waunakee is the one we work from: GK Painting is based in the village. It's also a place that has kept growing for half a century, from about 2,200 people at the 1970 census to nearly 14,900 at the 2020 one, and four in five of its houses were built in 1980 or later.
Houses that young rarely hide plaster or layers of old oil paint. What they have instead is a set of builder finishes that have run their course: cabinets in a stain that dates the kitchen, honey oak trim and doors under an ambering clear coat, and a front entry worn down by the weather. This page is about what it means that we're based here, where the village's houses usually want paint first, and how a railroad stop became a place this size.
What we do in Waunakee
Refinish, reface or replace? Choosing for a newer Waunakee kitchen
For owners of a sound but dated kitchen who haven't decided between new paint, new doors or new cabinets. The page compares refinishing, refacing and replacement, says plainly when paint is the right answer, and explains why an island or a second color is often the easiest place to begin.
Painting the stained oak and maple woodwork in Waunakee homes
About the honey oak casings, stained baseboards and six-panel doors still under their original clear coat in many 1990s and 2000s houses. It explains how glossy wood is prepared so paint holds, how doors are handled on both faces, and when keeping a stained handrail is the better call.
Painting a Waunakee front entry: the door, sidelights and trim
Written for the front of the house: a faded door, sidelights peeling at the edges, or casing that has opened at the joints. It covers fiberglass, steel and wood doors, picking a sheen and color, and how long a newly painted door should be left ajar before it's shut.
Waunakee homes at a glance
| Homes counted | 6,091 |
|---|---|
| Median year built | 1998 |
| Built before 1980 | 20% |
| Built 1980 to 1999 | 36% |
| Built 2000 or later | 45% |
| Owner occupied | 77% |
| Single-family detached | 65% |
A painter who's already in the village
Being based here doesn't buy anyone a different price or a place at the front of the line, and we won't suggest otherwise. What it changes is distance. When George needs to see a kitchen, a stairwell or a front door before he can quote it, getting to a Waunakee address takes him minutes.
Plenty of jobs don't need a visit at all, and George decides that once he's heard what you have in mind. Carley manages the schedule, so start dates come from her, and George does the painting himself. A Waunakee kitchen and a Fitchburg one go on the same calendar.
Close by is a convenience, not a credential. Whoever you hire, ask to see proof of insurance; our post on why painter insurance matters explains what to ask for and what the certificate covers. When you're ready, ask for a free estimate.
Oak, flat paint and a faded front door
Waunakee's median house was built in 1998, so a typical one here has had more than twenty-five years to show which original choices were made to last. The framing and drywall usually were. The finishes often weren't: flat wall paint chosen because it touches up easily, cabinets in whatever stain was selling that year, honey oak or maple trim, and a front door that has taken every season since it was hung.
Those three are what our Waunakee service pages are about. The kitchen usually shows a house's age first, so cabinet refinishing in Waunakee starts with whether to paint, reface or replace. Our post on the best paint for kitchen cabinets explains why the type of paint matters more than the label on the can.
The stained trim and doors and the front entry each get a page of their own, and the interior painting page lists everything else we paint inside. Behind the house, a deck from the same years has had two dozen winters of its own. We stain and refinish decks here too, and the yearly routine in our deck maintenance guide keeps one from sliding toward repairs between coats.
The depot that started it
Waunakee exists because of a railroad deal. When the Chicago and North Western Railway wanted to extend its line from Madison to Saint Paul, railroad officials agreed to move a depot to the new community in exchange for a payment and two miles of right of way. The village was founded in 1871 and incorporated in 1893.
That depot, the red building in the photo above, still stands in the center of town. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses the Chamber of Commerce. The village's main waterway is Six Mile Creek, which crosses from west to east before bending south through town toward Lake Mendota.
Even the name has a story. It's of Native American origin and usually translated as "fair and pleasant valley," though another account ties it to a Chippewa word meaning "he lives in peace." The village's own slogan is simpler: "The Only Waunakee in the World."
Fifty years of adding houses
For most of its first century Waunakee stayed small; the 1950 census counted about 1,000 people. From 1970 on, every decade added well over a thousand people: roughly 1,700 in the 1970s, 2,000 in the 1980s, 3,100 in the 1990s, another 3,100 in the 2000s and about 2,800 in the 2010s, for 14,879 in 2020.
The houses arrived on the same schedule. The Census estimates that about 36% of today's homes went up between 1980 and 1999 and about 45% in 2000 or later, and that around 77% are lived in by their owners. A village of owners in houses this age is a village of people deciding, sooner or later, whether to keep the finishes a builder picked.
The older fifth of Waunakee
About 20% of the village's homes were built before 1980, and only about 3% before 1940. Those houses deserve older-house prep. Trim from those decades often carries oil-based paint under later coats, and it needs sanding and a bonding primer before a water-based paint will grip. When you call, tell us the year your house was built, especially if it's before 1978.
Common questions
Is GK Painting actually based in Waunakee?
Yes. Waunakee is our home base and the village we run the business from. From here we work across Madison and Dane County.
Do you work outside Waunakee too?
Yes, the village is one of twelve towns we serve. Middleton, DeForest, Windsor, Sun Prairie, Madison and the rest share the same schedule, and each one has its own page on this site with its own housing figures.
Our Waunakee house went up in the 1990s or 2000s. Where does it usually need help first?
Usually on the surfaces people touch and look at most: hallway and stairwell walls still in flat builder paint, the kitchen cabinets, and the front door. Flat paint marks easily and won't take a scrubbing, so busy walls age well before the bedrooms do. A 1990s house is also likely to have stained oak trim that deserves a decision before the walls are repainted.
Can George look at several projects in one visit?
Yes. If you're thinking about the kitchen, a few rooms and the front entry, mention all of them when you call, and George can see everything on the same trip. That way you can decide the order with the whole picture in front of you.
What are your working hours?
We work Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, and we're closed on weekends. The estimate form on our contact page takes requests at any hour, and we reply during the working week.
Other towns we serve
Helpful guides
Sources
- American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau, via Census Reporter
- Waunakee, Wisconsin, Wikipedia