Painter in Deepdene, VIC
Deepdene, near the park and the trail
Deepdene is small, and most of it is houses that have stood for close to a century. The quiet streets near Deepdene Park and the trail along the old Outer Circle railway line are lined with interwar bungalows and Edwardian houses, with a few newer homes in between. Painting here is usually an owner working through an older house properly: the outside timber one year, the hallway and front rooms the next.
Whitehorse Road and Burke Road carry the traffic, but the streets inside are quiet, with room to park and a driveway down one side of most houses. Side paths can be narrow and planted, and the fences between houses are often old timber that does not take a leaning ladder well. Houses without side access have the gear carried through the front door, with the hallway covered first.
The houses are mostly brick or weatherboard bungalows from the 1920s and 30s, with wide eaves, timber windows, leadlight and plaster ceilings, some with a decorative pattern. The Edwardian houses add fretwork and turned verandah posts. Old paint on houses of this age may contain lead, and most have several coats on their timber, so preparation is the bigger part of the job. Unpainted face brick is best left that way.
What we do here most
What Deepdene keeps needing
Most jobs are period houses being looked after rather than changed, which means more preparation and fewer surprises.
Exterior painting
Bungalow eaves and window frames repainted
Wide bungalow eaves and timber window frames take most of the weather, and their paint lifts long before the walls need it. The eaves are scraped, cleaned and primed, sills are repaired where they have gone soft, and the frames are painted in colours that suit the house, leaving the face brick alone.
Painting and restoration
Timber casement windows freed and repainted
Casement windows on bungalows here are often stuck shut with paint and have cracked putty around the glass. The sashes are freed, the old putty is renewed, the timber is repaired, and the frames are primed and painted with the edges kept clean, so the windows close properly and the leadlight is left untouched.
Walls and ceilings
A patterned plaster ceiling with old water marks
Some interwar houses here have decorative plaster ceilings, and an old roof leak can leave a brown ring in the pattern. Once the leak is fixed and the plaster is dry, the mark is sealed with a stain blocking undercoat and the ceiling is painted by brush and small roller so the pattern keeps its detail.
Interior painting
Hallway, front rooms and picture rails done properly
Bungalow hallways and front rooms often have picture rails, deep skirting and timber doors with many coats on them. Loose layers are taken back by hand, cracks are filled, the ceiling and walls are painted, and the timber is finished in an enamel that wears well, so the rooms look finished rather than freshly coated over.
If it is urgent
If water comes through a ceiling in a Deepdene house
- 1Look at the stain with a torch to see whether it is still spreading. Put a bucket under any drip, move rugs and furniture away, and switch off the power at the board for any light fitting near the water.
- 2Keep away from a plaster ceiling that is bowing or cracking around the wet patch, and do not paint over the mark. Leave patterned or ornate plaster for us to look at rather than scraping at it.
- 3When you call, tell us which room, whether the ceiling is plain, patterned or lath and plaster, and whether the roof has been repaired. Say whether there is a side path or the gear comes through the front door.
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 Deepdene, VIC
These are the eleven things we do across Melbourne, done here with the care that interwar bungalows, leadlight and old plaster ceilings need.
Also nearby
We work in these suburbs too
Local, and on the phone
Painting work in Deepdene
Call or email and say whether the eaves and window frames, the hallway and front rooms, or both come first. A photo of the eaves shows how much preparation the job needs.
0431 639 501Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:30pm
Not urgent? Send us the job instead