Painters and Decorators in Woldingham (CR3)
Exterior decorating on the large detached houses around Woldingham is a programme, not a two-day visit. The elevations are big, the plots are mature and often reached from private roads, and the paint only goes on when the surface and the weather both allow it.
Outside work runs to the weather, not the diary
Masonry and timber coatings need a surface that is genuinely dry and an air temperature above a working minimum, and they need to be touch dry before the temperature drops in the evening.
That is why the usable working day shortens badly from mid-autumn onwards: a wall that was fine at two o'clock is taking up dew by five, and paint applied into that will not cure as it should. So exterior painting is planned into the drier, longer part of the year and priced with some allowance for days lost to weather, rather than pretending they will not happen. On a house with elevations this size that also makes staging the work sensible, taking a couple of them in one season rather than committing the whole outside of the building to a single spell of settled weather.
Getting equipment across a mature plot
A large house needs proper access to every elevation, and on the big mature plots here — from Station Road out to the private roads — that is a planning job before it is a labouring one. Towers and scaffold need firm, level footing, which established lawns and borders do not naturally provide, so bearing and ground protection are worked out first. Routes for deliveries and equipment are agreed in advance, including whatever conditions apply on a private or gated road, and planting that would otherwise be damaged is protected or, where it has to be, cut back and made good afterwards. A good deal of Woldingham sits inside the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and that setting is part of what people are protecting, so stored materials, waste and equipment are kept tidy and out of the way for the length of the job. Access, protection and the building repairs are handled by our own people. The painting is carried out by decorators we bring in, with SG surveying it, pricing it and running it throughout.
What an exterior job actually consists of
Very little of it is painting. Surfaces are washed down and organic growth killed off, failed coatings are taken back to a sound edge, timber is checked for decay and repaired or spliced where it has gone, splits and open joints are filled, bare areas are knotted and primed, and the joints where different materials meet are sealed. Fascias, soffits, bargeboards and rainwater goods take longer than the walls do, because everything about them is at height and awkward to reach. Only then does the coating go on, in the number of coats the surface actually needs rather than a standard two. On a house this size that preparation is the bulk of the programme, and it is the reason the finish lasts.
More in Woldingham
Everything we do in Woldingham is on the Woldingham area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the decorating page.
Common questions
Q.01When is the best time of year to paint the outside?
The drier, warmer months. Coatings need the surface dry, the air above a working temperature, and time to go touch dry before evening, all of which get difficult from mid-autumn onwards.
Q.02How often should a house like ours be repainted outside?
Less often than people fear, and not all at once. Timber and rainwater goods generally want attention before masonry does, so a large house can sensibly be maintained a couple of elevations at a time rather than done in one go.
Q.03Will the lawns and planting survive it?
They should, if access is planned rather than improvised. Footings, routes and protection are agreed before anything is delivered, and we make good anything that has to be cut back.
Q.04Do you come out to the private roads?
Yes. We are at 27 High Street, Godstone, a short run over the Downs, and we work to whatever access arrangements apply on the road itself.
Thinking about decorating in Woldingham?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.