Painter in Doncaster, VIC
Doncaster, from the hill to the side streets
Painting in Doncaster covers three kinds of home. Along Doncaster Road near Westfield Doncaster there are apartment buildings, with units that need their walls, ceilings and doors done between occupants. Behind them are streets of 1960s and 70s houses on sloping blocks, and between those are newer double storey rebuilds with rendered fronts. Each one brings its own kind of job and its own way in.
Many blocks here slope, some steeply, so driveways are steep and ladders have to be footed and levelled on uneven ground. The low side of a split level house can be a full storey higher than the front. In the apartment buildings near the shopping centre, lifts and loading bays are booked through the building manager and parking for trades is limited, so the arrangement is made before the first day.
Many of the 1960s and 70s houses are brick veneer with timber eaves and timber or aluminium windows, and inside they often have raked ceilings, exposed beams and stained timber that has darkened over the years. Some have cedar cladding that was oiled rather than painted. Painting over stained or varnished timber needs the right primer or it peels, and whether to paint it at all is worth talking through. The rebuilds are square set plaster and rendered cladding.
What we do here most
What Doncaster keeps needing
The common thread is height and slope, from raked ceilings inside to the low side of a house on a falling block.
Interior painting
Raked ceilings and exposed beams brought up to date
Many houses here have raked ceilings with dark stained beams that owners want lighter. The beams are cleaned and primed with a primer that holds on varnished timber, then painted, or left stained and the ceiling painted around them. The high point of the ceiling is reached from a platform or planks rather than a stepladder.
Exterior painting
High eaves on a steeply sloping block
On a sloping block the eaves on the low side can be two storeys up, over a garden that falls away. Ladders are footed and levelled on the slope, the timber is scraped and primed, and the fascias and eaves are painted with the gutters protected. The high side is usually done in the same visit.
Decks and fences
A raised deck off the living room
Houses on falling blocks often have a large timber deck off the living area, high above the ground on one side. The boards and the balustrade are cleaned, repaired where loose, and recoated, with the posts and the underside reached safely from below. The deck is kept usable for as much of the job as possible.
Residential painting
An apartment near the shopping centre turned around
Units in the Doncaster Road buildings often need a repaint between leases. The lift and the loading bay are booked through the building manager, work runs inside the building's hours, and holes and scuffs are filled before the walls, ceilings and doors are painted so the property manager can inspect.
If it is urgent
If water comes through a ceiling in Doncaster
- 1Check what sits above the stain: a box gutter, a flat roof section or an upstairs bathroom are the usual sources in houses of this era and in newer rebuilds. Put a bucket under any drip and switch off the power at the board for nearby light fittings.
- 2Leave a wet raked ceiling or a bowing sheet alone, and do not climb onto a sloping roof in the rain. Do not paint over the stain until the plaster has dried out.
- 3When you call, say whether it is a split level, a single level or an apartment, which room and how high the ceiling is, and whether the block slopes steeply at the back. For an apartment, have the building manager's details handy.
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 Doncaster, VIC
These are the eleven things we do across Melbourne, done here to suit sloping blocks, raked ceilings and the apartments along Doncaster Road.
Also nearby
We work in these suburbs too
Local, and on the phone
Painting work in Doncaster
Call or email and say whether the block slopes and how high the highest part of the job is. That decides the ladders, planks or platform that come on the first day.
0431 639 501Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:30pm
Not urgent? Send us the job instead