Painter in Balwyn, VIC
Balwyn, either side of Whitehorse Road
Painting in Balwyn is largely family homes on generous blocks. Interwar clinker and red brick houses either side of Whitehorse Road sit alongside large rebuilds, and the work is split between the two: careful repaints of original houses, and full interiors in newer ones with high ceilings and big open rooms. The streets around Beckett Park and the Balwyn shops carry a lot of both.
Most blocks have a wide driveway and room in the street, so access is rarely the problem. The gardens are. Many houses have mature trees, hedges and garden beds right up against the walls, and those need tying back and covering before an exterior can start. Some streets slope enough that ladders need levelling on the low side of the house, and leaves from big trees settle on wet paint if the day is windy.
The interwar houses are clinker or red brick with rendered panels, timber eaves, leadlight windows and plaster ceilings, some with a decorative pattern. Their face brick is best left unpainted, while the render and timber need regular attention. The rebuilds are rendered or clad, with square set ceilings, tall voids and large windows, where long walls lit from the side show every roller mark unless the paint and the method suit the light.
What we do here most
What Balwyn keeps needing
Most jobs here are large rooms and large walls, where the finish is seen in strong light and small flaws show.
Interior painting
High ceilings and a stairwell void in a rebuild
Newer houses here often have ceilings well above standard height and a staircase rising through a two storey void. The void is reached from a platform or planks set on the stairs, and the walls are rolled in long even passes to keep lap marks down in the light from the big windows.
Exterior painting
Render and eaves on an interwar brick house
Interwar brick houses usually have rendered bands, a rendered porch and timber eaves that need repainting long before the brick does. Cracks in the render are filled, the timber is scraped and primed, and only the surfaces that were painted before are painted again, leaving the face brick exactly as it is.
Walls and ceilings
Patterned plaster ceilings with fine cracking
Some interwar houses here have decorative plaster ceilings with a raised pattern and a deep cornice. Fine cracks along the pattern are filled carefully so the detail is not lost, and the ceiling is painted with a brush and a small roller rather than a large roller that would fill the pattern in.
Decks and fences
A deck under mature trees turning grey
Decks behind Balwyn houses often sit under large trees that drop leaves and keep the timber damp. The boards go grey and mossy faster than a deck in full sun. They are cleaned, left to dry, and recoated with an oil or stain, with the ends and edges done so moisture cannot creep in.
If it is urgent
If water comes through a ceiling in Balwyn
- 1Look for the source first: a gutter or downpipe blocked by leaves from a big tree is a common one in heavy rain. Put a bucket under any drip and switch off the power at the board for any light fitting near the water.
- 2Do not climb onto the roof or clear gutters in the rain, and leave a sagging ceiling sheet alone. Do not paint over the stain until the plaster has dried out completely.
- 3When you call, say which room, how high the ceiling is, and whether it is plain or patterned plaster. Tell us whether the gutter or roof has been repaired yet and whether the driveway is clear for a ladder.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Which parts of Melbourne do you work in?
Melbourne's eastern and inner south-eastern suburbs, from Box Hill, Blackburn and Doncaster through Balwyn, Kew and Camberwell to Richmond, Toorak, Malvern, Prahran and Caulfield. All 25 suburbs are listed on the service areas page. If yours is not there, ask anyway, because the list is where the work goes most often rather than a fence.
Do you do plastering as well as painting?
Yes. Cracks, holes, water damaged patches and loose ceiling sheets are repaired and sanded before the paint goes on, so the repair and the painting are planned as one job rather than two trades working around each other. Most repaints in older houses need some of this, and it goes on the quote as its own line.
Can you fix rotten timber or a sticking door while you are here?
Yes, carpentry and fixing is one of the services, and it usually goes alongside the painting. Rotten weatherboards, soft window sills, loose skirting, sticking doors and broken fence palings are the common ones. Mention them when you call so they are in the quote rather than found on the day.
Do you do insurance repair work?
Yes. Painting and plaster repairs after a leak, a storm or an impact are one of the services. If you have a claim number or an assessor's report, send it with your enquiry and the quote is written against the same items, which makes the two easy to compare.
Do you give a written quote before starting?
Yes. You get it in writing before any paint is bought, listing the rooms or walls, the repairs, the preparation and the number of coats. If something changes once work starts, such as rot under a window sill, it is written down and you decide before it is done.
What do you need from me to quote?
Which rooms or which sides of the house, roughly how big they are, and a few photos taken in daylight. Point out anything flaking, cracked or stained, because preparation changes a quote more than size does. For outside work, say whether the house is single or double storey.
Can you help us choose colours?
We can talk through what tends to work on the house you have and how a colour behaves on that surface in that light. A sample patch on the actual wall is the most reliable way to decide, and it is worth doing before a full tin is bought. The final choice is always yours.
Do I need to move the furniture out first?
No, though clearing small and fragile things off shelves and walls helps. Larger furniture is moved to the middle of the room and covered, and floors are covered before anything is opened. Tell us about anything that cannot be moved, such as a piano or built in shelving.
What hours do you work?
Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:30pm. If you live in an apartment or a townhouse with set hours for trades, tell us when you call and the work days are planned inside them.
How long does a room or a house take?
It depends on the preparation more than the painting, so the honest answer comes with the quote rather than before it. A bedroom with sound walls is a different job from one with cracked plaster and a stained ceiling. Outside work also depends on the weather, because paint needs dry surfaces and mild days to go on well.
What happens if it rains during an outside job?
Work on the outside stops while the surfaces are wet, because paint put over damp timber or render does not hold. The day is moved rather than pushed through, and inside work can sometimes fill the gap. We let you know as soon as a day has to move.
Is old paint on an older house a problem?
It can be. Paint on houses built before the 1970s may contain lead, and that changes how it should be prepared, because dry sanding it spreads the dust. Tell us roughly when the house was built and we will talk it through before anything is quoted.
Everything we do here
Services in Balwyn, VIC
These are the eleven things we do across Melbourne, done here to suit large family homes, high ceilings and gardens that come right up to the walls.
Also nearby
We work in these suburbs too
Local, and on the phone
Painting work in Balwyn
Call or email with the ceiling height and whether the house is an original or a rebuild. That decides the ladders and platforms the job needs before anyone arrives.
0431 639 501Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:30pm
Not urgent? Send us the job instead