Painter in Blackburn North, VIC
Blackburn North, south of the Koonung Creek
Blackburn North is a suburb of houses from the 1960s on good sized blocks, many still owned by the families who bought them early and many now being sold and renovated. Painting here is mostly repaints of those original houses, inside and out, and the rooms of a house being made ready for a new owner. The streets run north towards the Koonung Creek parklands and the Eastern Freeway.
Most houses have a driveway beside them and room in the street, so ladders and planks come off the vehicle close to the work. Gardens are established, with trees and shrubs along the side fences and garden beds against the walls, and those are tied back and covered before an exterior starts. Many of the houses are single storey, which keeps the eaves within reach of a ladder, though some have a second storey added later.
The original houses are brick veneer, often cream or clinker, with timber eaves, timber fascias and timber or steel window frames, and plasterboard ceilings inside. The timber is what fails: fascias behind the gutters, the bottoms of window frames, and the sills on the weather side. Eaves lined with old fibre cement are treated as possible asbestos, so the sheet is tested before any work and is never sanded or scrubbed hard.
What we do here most
What Blackburn North keeps needing
Most jobs here are the timber around a sound brick house, and the rooms of a house changing hands.
Exterior painting
Fascias, eaves and window frames on brick veneer
On a brick veneer house the brick is often fine while the timber around it has gone grey and flaky. The fascias, eaves, window frames and front door are scraped, with dust controlled because old paint may contain lead, then repaired where soft, primed where bare and given two coats. It is a smaller job than a full exterior and protects the timber.
House repainting
An original house repainted for a new owner
When a long held house sells, the new owner often wants every room done before the furniture arrives. Cracked joints and old picture hook holes are filled, the ceilings, walls and doors are painted, and the colours are written down for later. The work is planned around the settlement date so the rooms are planned to be dry before the move.
Carpentry and fixing
Rotten sills and fascia boards replaced first
Soft timber found during a repaint is replaced rather than painted over, because new paint will not hold on rotten wood. Sills, fascia boards and the bottoms of door frames are the usual places in houses of this age. The new timber is primed straight away so it can be painted with the rest of the house.
Decks and fences
A tired timber fence along the side boundary
Paling fences between original houses here are often decades old, grey and leaning in places. Broken palings and rails are replaced, the fence is cleaned and left to dry, and it is stained or painted on your side, or on both sides if the neighbour agrees. A gate that drags is rehung while the fence is being done.
If it is urgent
If water comes through a ceiling in Blackburn North
- 1Check the gutters from the ground: a gutter or downpipe blocked with leaves, or a fascia that has pulled away, is a common cause in houses of this age. Put a bucket under any drip and switch off the power at the board for nearby light fittings.
- 2Stay off the roof and out of the ceiling space in the rain, and leave a sagging plasterboard sheet alone. Do not paint over the stain until a roofer or plumber has fixed the leak and the plaster has dried.
- 3When you call, tell us which room, whether the ceiling is plasterboard or older plaster, and whether the gutter or roof has been repaired. Say whether the fascia near the leak looks soft, because we can replace it in the same visit.
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 Blackburn North, VIC
These are the eleven things we do across Melbourne, done here to suit original brick veneer houses and the timber that wears around them.
Also nearby
We work in these suburbs too
Local, and on the phone
Painting work in Blackburn North
Call or email and tell us whether it is the whole house or the timber outside. A photo of the eaves and window frames is enough for us to say how much repair the job needs.
0431 639 501Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:30pm
Not urgent? Send us the job instead