Our legacy · Since 1948
A grandfather’s trowel. A father’s standard. A son’s promise. The tools have been handed down — and so has the way the work is done.
The family line
Chuck Brainerd Sr. founds Brainerd Plastering in Dixon, Illinois, in an era when nearly every wall in America was plastered by hand.
His son Chuck takes over the business, restoring churches and homes, repairing water damage and completing interior and exterior work for residential and commercial clients — including plastering at the Depot Museum in Amboy.
Sauk Valley Media reports the family business being handed to the third generation — a craftsman who grew up watching his father work and entered the trade at fifteen.
3rd Generation Decorative Solutions & Plaster Restoration, a subsidiary of Brainerd Plastering Inc., carries the family craft to Oahu, Hawaii and the Chicago area, adding Venetian plaster, micro-cement, painting and window film to the trade. The third generation is union-trained and has also worked as a State Farm property claims adjuster. He earned his property adjuster license with a 98% score on the first attempt.
Sauk Valley Media · Shaw Local · November 7, 2014
By Jermaine Pigee · Dixon, Illinois
“I used to watch him work when I was a kid. I’ve been in the trade since I was 15.”— The third generation
“Everything was plastered back then …”— Chuck Brainerd, on the early days of the business
“I have a reputation, and now he has a reputation, which I will guard.”— Chuck Brainerd, second generation
What we stand on
Methods taught hand to hand since 1948, respected rather than rushed.
Union-trained, with twenty-plus years of hands-on experience on historic and modern walls alike.
A family name on every job — and a reputation worth guarding.
Free estimates · Residential & commercial
Call or text and you’ll speak with the craftsman himself — not a call center.
