Tom Lopatosky – The Home Improvement Expert

Carpentry

How to Save the Destruction of Your Home for $2.87…

Ok, so maybe the headline is a bit drastic, but, believe it or not, it is not too far off!! Over time, we have come across a variety of damage on people’s homes – some monumental – that could have been prevented for $2.87 or less. ...
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Exterior

Are Doorbells Falling by Way of the Shutter??

Over time, things that were SUPER purposeful during one time period, may fade away into obsoleteness, to the point where they may be really cool to look at, but don’t serve much purpose beyond that. One example of this on our homes, would be the shutters many of us have hanging ...
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Informational

What is Home Improvement Serendipity??

One definition of ‘Serendipity’ is when you unexpectedly, but fortunately, discover something by accident. Over time, I have heard numerous examples of this in all walks of life. Perhaps the most amazing instances of serendipity occur in the medical field. We have all heard various stories about ...
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Caulk

Are You Unintentionally Making it Difficult for Your Home to Breath?

Believe it or not, all of our homes need to be able to breath. In other words, they have to be able to allow moisture to escape from the inside of the home to the outside of the home. Sometimes people are really well intentioned, but their actions for doing what they believe to be positive things, may have unintended, damaging consequences as ...
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Exterior

Does Your Gutter System Have Seams?

To a degree, I would expect any property owner that has gutter systems on their home or business to believe the question as to whether or not their gutter system has seams to be a bit rhetorical. After all, assuming someone is at least a little bit cognizant of gutter systems, they sure could ...
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Exterior

Does Your Property Have Proper Drainage??

Perhaps one of the bigger nightmares of any property owner is taking on any type of unwanted water to the inside of their property. There are a seemingly infinite number of ways in which this can occur… The roof may need replacing… There may be some type ...
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The Wonderful World of Exterior Door Finishes ?

One of the more interesting things I learned to appreciate when venturing into the Home Improvement industry, way back in 1995, was how much pride people took in the appearance of their exterior doors – particularly their front ones! I learned REALLY quickly of just how ...
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Exterior

Painting Brick Foundations

“Why would anyone ever want to paint a brick foundation??” I have been asked this question many times in the past.     The answer to me is no different than why would someone want to paint natural cedar siding, redwood trim, or vinyl siding for ...
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Gutter Trough Copper Repairs…

Upon hearing the words ‘Gutter Trough Copper Repairs’ you might think what you are about to read next may be boring/not interesting and you might even stop reading further… …unless, of course, you are one of the unique individuals who has a gutter trough system on their ...
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Exterior

How to know which Colors to Pick for your Home?

  One year, many moons ago, we had a booth at a couple of local Home Shows and I was trying to come up with an idea of a theme for the booth.   I stumbled across a book at a paint store whose title was ‘What ...
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What is Behind That Drop Ceiling???

  I am fairly certain that the majority of people reading this have seen a drop ceiling in the past. There is also the possibility that you have even seen them before and not recognized what you were looking at was a drop ceiling.   Drop ceilings (or ‘acoustical ceilings’ or ...
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Exterior

Have you Ever Smooshed a Plant?

  If you work around the exterior of your home fairly regularly, your chances of unintentionally causing some type of collateral damage are probably pretty decent. As a company that typically works on a good number of homes on a weekly basis, in the “good” ...
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Informational

How Valuable is that Old Ladder??

      A HUGE number of homeowners have ladders lying around their home in one place or another. Some are constantly used. Some may be used once per year.         Some may just be sitting around collecting dust, with the intention ...
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Exterior

What in the WORLD is the Purpose of Shutters???

  Many of us have shutters on the exterior of our home. I’m sure many of us – correctly I might add – also assume that once upon a time, shutters were pretty commonplace and used to protect windows during various types of bad weather. ...
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Informational

The Evils of Using Tape on Home Improvement Projects!

When embarking on any number of a variety of Home Improvement Projects, the pull (no pun intended!) to use tape in different capacities can be pretty great. Many Contractors (including ourselves) even use it as a safety net to help with protecting different types of ...
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Tips-for-Cleaning-Your-Walls-before-painting Uncategorized

Tips for Cleaning Your Walls

Most people are generally aware that they are supposed to clean their floors, windows and furniture fairly regularly, but they don’t always show the same kind of attention to their walls. You may have hired some of the best house painters in Rhode Island to ...
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Carpentry

What is Lurking Behind YOUR Walls???

  One of the areas of one’s home that the goings on within are pretty much completely unknown to every homeowner, is that space in between the exterior walls of their home and the interior walls of their home. This “invisible” area would pretty much ...
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Deck Care

Why “Natural Finish” Deck Staining is SUCH a Finicky Undertaking…

Believe it or not, I am in my 3rd decade in the Home Improvement Industry! Feels kind of funny to be able to say it, but yes, I suppose I am some type of Elder Statesman.   Perhaps one of the most dynamically evolving portions ...
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Exterior

Historical Artifact Adventures! Read or Listen!

  On a recent Friday night I was on my way home from the Shop and was trying to figure out what to do. It was an odd situation as there was some type of mix-up with my 5pm appointment, all of my most immediate ...
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Historic-Restoration-Services-by-LOPCO-Contracting Uncategorized

Common Historic Restoration Mistakes

We would all love to be able to restore a Historic building to its former glory – or at least hire the right Historic Restoration Contractors to do the job – but it’s never easy. You’re essentially fighting against time itself whenever you’re restoring a ...
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Exterior

When is the Best Time to “Blank”???

    On this particular afternoon, while driving home from my daughter’s tumble practice, I noticed how beautiful it was outside. It is a Saturday, heading toward later May, and I could not help but notice how many people were outside and either working on ...
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Exterior

Termites, Carpenter Ants, and other Wood-Boring Insects…Oh My!!

  With the rainy weather we have had in recent history, dating back to last August, residential wood-eating insects are about ready to burst at the seams. September through November 2018 marked the rainiest “Fall” around these parts in history.  This past April, it rained ...
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Uncategorized

Getting Your Home Ready for Spring

Spring is finally here, which means it’s time for some Spring cleaning. Depending on how you are wired, you may be either relishing the chance to air out your home and get rid of the grime that has somehow accumulated over the past several months ...
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Exterior

Does Your Home Have Hidden Mold?

  Probably one of the things that any home or property owner cringes at the thought of as it relates to existing within their living or operating space. Mold can create a plethora of health challenges. I, myself am very fortunate when it comes to ...
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Exterior

Perhaps The Best Spring Gardening Tip Ever…

Although surely not everyone celebrates, for those that do, Easter is a very special time! Not only for Spiritual reasons, but Easter often seems to symbolically run parallel with the beginning of Spring. Although not always the warmest of days, this year, with Easter being ...
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Exterior

How to Stop a Bleeding Knothole…

  You may have dealt with this before…     A knothole in a piece of wood that you are trying to paint that no matter what you do to stop it from bleeding through your finish coat, just seems to magically keep reappearing. Why ...
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Exterior

The Importance of Storm Windows!

  With the technology in window manufacturing advancement today, one would think that the traditional storm window market may be falling by the wayside. This is very much not necessarily true. Although when folks do update the windows on their homes & businesses, they do ...
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Exterior

Is Composite Trim Truly Maintenance-Free?

When someone replaces rotted wood trim on their home with some type of composite trim, initially there may be a feeling of satisfaction knowing that what they just installed will never rot on them again. They may even have a slight feeling of invincibility at ...
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Exterior

Proper Exterior Painting Surface Preparation Expectations

  Perhaps one of the diciest questions for exterior residential painting Contractors to navigate (when asked by a potential exterior painting Client) is…. What do you do for surface preparation prior to painting?               This can be such a ...
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Exterior

Spring is Springing!! Now What Do I Do???

  This past week we have certainly gotten teased with what will hopefully be an upward trend in daily average temperatures. After a late March burst of snow, following what seemingly has been eons since we have had a REALLY decent stretch of weather (a ...
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OUR HISTORY

LOPCO Expert

While looking for a way to pay his way through college, Tom Lopatosky started LOPCO Contracting in 1995. Since then, when Tom began the company with less than $100 in his pocket, LOPCO has grown to become the Home Improvement Contractor of choice for a wide number of people throughout Rhode Island and Southern New England. Tom learned many valuable lessons as he grew the business while attending college. Ultimately Tom (in the year 2000) graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree with a Concentration in Marketing, a Bachelor’s Degree with a Concentration in Finance, and a Minor in Computer Information Systems from Bryant University (Bryant College at the time) in Smithfield, RI. 

Prior to earning his degrees, Tom graduated from Classical High School in Providence, RI (where Tom won the ‘Al Morro Award’ for Football in 1994). After High School, Tom left for the University of South Carolina to pursue his dream of playing football. Soon after his mother passed away in 1997, he relocated back to RI and completed his college career at Bryant. Tom continued to play minor league football for 9 years and was part of 4 championship-playing football teams. 

As the demands of the company grew, Tom decided to retire from football in 2006 and focus on LOPCO full time.
Under Tom’s leadership, the company culture of striving to overdeliver on every project they undertake has led to much repeat business and their clients are often very happy to tell their friends and families about their experiences with LOPCO. This has helped tremendously as LOPCO has sought to further increase their customer base. Tom’s long-term goal for the company is “To lead LOPCO Contracting in continuing to paint and build the way to social consciousness while becoming the largest painting and repair company in New England.”

Tom lives in East Providence, RI with his girlfriend Leslie and his daughters Tamara & Ivelisse. Tom has held a variety of titles over the years including President of LOPCO Contracting, Regional Board Member of the PCA’s (Painting Contractors Association) Northeast Council, President of the RI Chapter of the PCA, Board Member of RIBA (Rhode Island Builders Association), and Building & Property Trades Advisory Committee Member for MTTI (MotoRing Technical Training Institute in Seekonk, MA).

Tom has been a RIBA member since 2008 and a member of PCA since 2006. In 2013 Tom received the PCA’s National “Humanitarian of the Year” Award, a “40 under 40” Award from Providence Business News, and his BNI (Business Network International) Warwick peers voted him “Member of the Year”. Tom has been involved with BNI for a number of years as well as quite a few other networking organizations.

In 2006 Tom was inducted into the Classical High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Over the years Tom has been a contributing writer and/or columnist for ExpertBeacon.com, RI Local Magazine, ShopInRI Magazine, The Jewish Voice, The Rhode Island Echo, The RI Wave, the East Providence Reporter, and The Smithfield Times and also has had weekly Home Improvement Tips that have run on the radio (630AM & 99.7FM WPRO in the RI area) and on television (WPRI 12 in the RI area). 

Tom is Roman Catholic and is a firm believer that success is often correlated with a person’s faith, not necessarily a particular religion, but faith in a greater power. 

Roman 12:12 is his favorite Bible verse which reads, “”Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.” Tom is very involved with his Church (St. Adalbert’s Church in Providence, RI) – Tom served as Chairperson of St. Adalbert’s Church’s Polish-American Festival for 6 years – and really tries to make it a point on attending service at least once per week (Tom also spends 30-45 minutes in prayer prior to beginning each day).
As a fun sidenote, Tom made it as a Semi-Finalist in the second season of “The Apprentice” (the round right before the finalists are on the show!).

Tom has been featured on the Real Estate Radio Network, the ‘Discover Rhode Island’ TV show, and on The Strongpreneur Nation Podcast. Today, Tom has his own weekly Home Improvement radio show on 630AM & 99.7FM WPRO in the RI area – ‘PROTALK Home Improvement’. Tom feels VERY fortunate to have been involved with a number of terrific community organizations over the years, such as: Amos House, Children’s Wishes, Clinica Esperanza, Goodwill Industries of Rhode Island, Habitat for Humanity of RI – Greater Providence, The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, The Town of Johnston, RI Police Department, Junior Achievement of RI, One Neighborhood Builders (formerly Olneyville Housing Corporation), Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, YouthBuild Providence, and YMCA of Greater Providence. Two of the biggest community initiatives that Tom has been involved with are being a lead organizer of ‘Clean Day’ on the Woonasquatucket River Greenway for nine years and a lead organizer for YouthBuild Providence’s annual ‘Build-a-Bed’ event for four years.

In addition to LOPCO, Tom also owns Cheer UP Athletics – an All-Star Cheerleading Gym located in East Providence, RI – and The Smithfield Times. Tom is an avid New York Yankee, University of South Carolina (ALL of their sports!), and Providence College Basketball fan. Tom’s extensive experience and overall industry knowledge have made Tom one of the most sought-after experts in the Home Improvement Industry. Remarkably, Tom is often even called upon by other contractors to help them through challenges in their businesses (often speaking at National Industry Conferences). Because he has made it a focus to delve into and solve problems that others in the industry simply want nothing to do with, Tom has become an invaluable resource for homeowners near and far. With all being said, it confidently is safe to say that Tom Lopatosky truly is – The Home Improvement Expert!!!

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