Painter in Prahran, VIC
Prahran, around Chapel Street
Prahran is a suburb of Victorian terraces, apartment buildings and shops, and the painting here follows that mix. The streets off Chapel Street, Commercial Road and Greville Street are full of single and double fronted terraces, many renovated at the back, with apartments rising along the main roads and near Prahran Market. The work is often a terrace done inside and out, or an apartment refreshed between owners or tenants.
Near Chapel Street and the market, parking is metered or time limited and busy most days, so the vehicle needs an agreed spot or a visitor permit before the first morning. Some terraces back onto a bluestone laneway, which is often the easiest way in for ladders and planks, with the lane kept clear for neighbours. Apartment buildings have lifts, loading bays and working hours set by the building manager.
The terraces are brick or rendered brick, with lath and plaster ceilings, cornices, cast iron verandah detail, parapets and box gutters behind them. Many have a modern extension at the back in plasterboard and cladding, so one house can need two kinds of preparation. Many streets sit under heritage overlays, so changes to the front of a terrace can need a council permit, and old paint on the original parts may contain lead.
What we do here most
What Prahran keeps needing
A lot of the work here is a terrace that is half original and half new, and making the two read as one house.
Exterior painting
A double storey terrace with a balcony
Two storey terraces here often have a cast iron balcony above the verandah and a parapet along the roof. The front is reached with scaffold or planks from the footpath, rust on the iron is treated and primed, and the render and timber are repaired and painted. The footpath is kept clear for people walking past.
Interior painting
An old terrace with a new extension
Terraces here often have original front rooms and a new open plan extension at the back, with different walls in each. The old plaster is filled and sealed, the new plasterboard is primed, and both are painted in colours that carry through so the house reads as one. The join between old and new is filled so it does not crack.
Residential painting
An apartment near Prahran Market between tenants
Apartments near the market and Chapel Street often need walls, ceilings and doors done in the gap between leases. The lift and loading bay are booked with the building manager, holes and scuffs are patched, and rooms are finished in an order that lets the agent inspect each one. Colours are kept to the ones on file for later touch ups.
Carpentry and fixing
A laneway gate and rear fence rebuilt
Some terraces here back onto a bluestone laneway, with a timber gate and fence that have rotted at the base. Rotten posts and palings are replaced, the gate is rehung so it closes and latches properly, and the new timber is painted or stained to match. The laneway is kept clear for neighbours using it.
If it is urgent
If water comes through a ceiling in a Prahran terrace
- 1Check whether the stain sits where the old roof meets the newer extension, because that join is a common source in renovated terraces here. Put a bucket under any drip and switch off the power at the board for any light fitting near the water.
- 2Keep away from an original lath and plaster ceiling that is bowing, because it can come down in a heavy slab. Leave the roof and the box gutters to a roofer or plumber, and do not paint over the stain.
- 3When you call, tell us whether the stain is in the original part or the extension, whether the leak has been fixed, and whether there is a laneway at the back. If it is 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 Prahran, VIC
These are the eleven things we do across Melbourne, done here to suit renovated terraces, apartments and the streets around Chapel Street.
Local, and on the phone
Painting work in Prahran
Call or email and say whether the job is in the original part of the terrace, the extension or both. Tell us whether there is a laneway at the back, because that is usually the way in.
0431 639 501Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:30pm
Not urgent? Send us the job instead