Painting the outside of a house
Rendered walls, pebbledash, painted timber and the boards under the roof. Worth doing at the same time as work up top, while the access is already there.
Why this sits alongside the roofline work
Most of what wants painting on a house is high up: the render above the ground floor, the gable, the boards under the eaves. Getting to it safely is most of the job.
So it is done while the access is already up, at the same time as work on the roof or the guttering. One set up instead of two, and one lot of disruption instead of two.
Render, pebbledash and painted timber
Rendered walls take a masonry paint that lets damp out rather than sealing it in. Pebbledash drinks more paint and has to be worked into, because the surface is all edges and shadows.
Timber is different again. Old paint that is flaking has to come back to something sound. Otherwise the new coat lifts straight off with the old.
Where this work is covered
Painting goes where the roof work goes. We cover Crawley, Brighton, Horsham, Reigate, Redhill and Dorking, all reached from Surrey. Further than that, ring and ask.
Brighton and Hove is where paint takes the worst of it. Salt in the wind off the sea strips render and timber on the exposed side of a house faster than it goes inland.
How the job goes
What happens when we do your exterior painting
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01Look at what is there
We look at what the surface is, what is already on it, and how much of that has failed. Sound paint gets washed. Flaking paint has to come off.
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02Prepare
Washing down, scraping back the loose stuff, filling and priming bare patches. This is the part that decides how long the finish lasts.
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03Paint
Two coats over prepared surfaces, cut in at the edges. Then the ground and the windows get cleaned off before we leave.
Common questions
- Can a house be painted in winter?
- Not well. Masonry paint needs a dry surface and a temperature above about five degrees to cure. A cold damp wall in December will take the paint and then let go of it in spring.
- Does the render need repairing first?
- Sometimes. Cracked or hollow render will crack the paint again within a year. Small cracks get filled. A wall that has blown across a whole panel is a rendering job, and paint will not hide it.
- How long does exterior paint last?
- On sound render with the preparation done properly, a good many years. South and west facing walls go first, because that is where the sun and the driven rain land hardest.
Roofing advice on this
Plain answers to the questions we get asked most about this work, written before you ask us for a price.
Get an estimate
Tell us what the roof is doing
Estimates and advice are free. Ring and describe the problem, or send a photograph of it, and you will get a straight answer about whether it needs a repair or a new roof.
All work guaranteed.
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