What Vallejo is like to work in
Start with the old streets. The Heritage District and St. Vincent’s Hill went up between roughly 1870 and 1900 as housing for shipyard workers, and a surprising number survived intact: lath-and-plaster walls, picture rails still carrying their hooks, hexagonal floor tile in the bathrooms, tall double-hung sashes with weights in the frames. None of that likes pressure or bleach. It likes patience, soft cloths and someone who knows a plaster wall will chalk if you scrub it.
The rest of the city is nothing like that. Post-war subdivisions climb the hills toward Blue Rock Springs, Glen Cove looks over the water on 1980s lots, and Hiddenbrooke behind the golf course is newer again. Mare Island holds former naval family housing, some restored and some mid-project. A crew coming to an 1890s cottage on Georgia Street and a crew coming to a two-story on the ridge are doing genuinely different jobs, and we scope them separately.
What Vallejo homes are like to clean
Two housing worlds in one city. The historic core holds narrow-lot Victorians and Queen Anne cottages, 1,000 to 1,800 square feet, with plaster, wood floors, deep baseboards and steep straight staircases. Everything above and east of downtown is 1950s through 1990s subdivision — stucco, slab or crawl space, carpet through the bedrooms, two-car garages. Wind off the strait pushes fine grit onto sills citywide. Hiddenbrooke and parts of Glen Cove carry active homeowner associations.