Find a Decorator you can trust in Avoch.

Hiring a decorator for your project always seem easy until you get started. With a wide range of decorators available today, it can be quite tricky separating the boys from the men and selecting the right tradesman for your unique project. There are a number of things to put into consideration, questions to ask and lots more to ensure your decorating job is awarded to the right tradesman. In this post, we’re going to give you an insight on some of the essential questions to ask to make sure the prospective decorator is a good match. Let’s take a look!

• What qualifications do you possess? With the pool of decorators around in the industry today, qualifications are needed to help you determine the true specialists. A qualified decorator gives you an assurance (to some extent) that a quality work would be done to your requirements. Decorators, generally, can earn a degree which includes course work in architecture and are also licensed.
• How do you help me identify and communicate my style to you? If you have an idea and know what you want for your space, a good decorator should be able to get it out of you by showing you pictures and asking questions which can vary widely.
• Do you have examples of previous work that are similar to my project in style, scope as well as budget? A decorator that answers yes to this question is a good indicator that they can handle your project. If they don’t, you can ask for pictures of projects they feel is quite similar to yours

If you happen to possess a upvc door, then you’re likely to notice two main things about about it. Firstly, it’s built to last and will most likely work perfectly well for several more years to come. Lastly, after just a couple of years, it’ll start showing signs of ageing - it starts to fade and becomes dull or discolour which is a problem that’s commonly identified with white plastic after some time and even more so when exposed to the sun and rain year in year out. Unlike back in the days where you’d have to replace your old upvc door due to discolouration, now you’d only have to repaint it which will only cost just a fraction of the price that would have been expended to get a replacement upvc door. By painting your upvc door, you’ll have it looking its best again while also adding to the curb appeal of your home.

Now painting of a upvc door is a very tricky and dangerous affair as it requires a lot of practice and any if proper care is not taken, you can easily inject yourself with paint. As a result, if you lack the skill or confidence required to carry out this task, then we’d strongly recommend you get in touch with a professional who can guarantee the best results the first time. If you wish to paint your upvc door, here are the four simple steps to it:

1. Remove any door furniture
2. Prepare the upvc door for the painting
3. Select a paint that’ll work on upvc doors
4. Decide on the finishing touches

How To Choose Exterior House Paint

Painting the exterior of your house is a great way to give your home a new fresh look that improves it’s curb appeal, make it stand out and also increase it’s value. Exterior paints can serve a wide range of purposes, be it to make a statement in the neighbourhood, highlight some architectural features or to complement the nature. Hence, it’s very important to know the purpose of your exterior house painting project before choosing colour and proceeding with the task. In this guide, we aim to help you narrow down the paint colour selection to help you choose the right paint combination for your home’s exterior with relative ease. Let’s take a look!

✓ The neighbourhood’s style. At times, the style of the neighbourhood can help in selecting a house’s paint colours. For example, in the event whereby the neighbourhood is filled with Victorian homes, then a bold colour wouldn’t even be an option. Furthermore, if there are more ranch style homes in the area, an exuberant collection of pastels may not be the most suitable choice.

✓ To complement nature. Sometimes all that’s needed to know the best paint combination for your home is simply to look around at the surrounding landscape to get clues of the colours that’ll be perfect. For instance, different shades of summer green can be incorporated fr the exterior, meanwhile the fall colour combinations of red, brown and golden shades can also go well too.

✓ Look inwards for guidance. The existing fixed colours inside or outside a house can also be a great option to be used in the exterior colour scheme. This can be the colour of the material of the window trim, foundation or even the roof.

In most areas, you will not need planning permission. However, if the property is listed or in a conservation area, you will need listed building consent or planning permission to paint the exterior. A surveyor or architect's advice will be invaluable as they can help with this process.

Interior painters and decorators will offer a wide range of services. These range from painting and wallpapering to other decorating jobs such as fitting skirting or architrave. Some painters and decorators will be trained to plaster as well, however, you should always ask them about this and not assume they will all be able to.

How To Remove Old Exterior Paint

When the paint of your house is starting to peel, there’s the need to take a swift action. While some homeowners opt to cover it with vinyl siding or replace it with fibre cement siding, there’s no reason why you would want to hide the exterior of your house if it still looks great. When you don’t want to hide the beauty of your exterior, the only other option you’ve got is stripping or removing of the old paint. So how do you remove old exterior paint without much hassle? Let’s take a look!

✓ Propane blowtorch. Due to its affordability and effectiveness, this blowtorch has been one of the most popular means of removing old exterior paint amongst homeowners for quite some time. It makes use of high heat to soften the acrylic-latex paint which makes it easy to peel off with a putty knife. However, it can also be very risky to use as it’s always a dangerous game when it comes to open flames. What’s more? Applying an open flame to lead-based paint may release toxic lead fumes, therefore you’d have to be very careful if you wish to use this method.

✓ Electric sanders. Belt sanders are a great option to removing old exterior paint as they’re able to strip off the paint quickly. However, this must be done gently and carefully as you’d risk gouging the wood if you lay into the sander too hard. The problem with this method is also lead-based paint as the sander tends to convert everything to dust and direct them straight to your face, hair and lungs.

✓ Scrapping. This involves using a sharp, rigid putty knife or blade designed for painting scraping to strip the exterior paint. This method also involves dust but you’d have a better control over it than the sander.

The quick and simple answer to this question is yes, upvc spraying is, in fact, largely beneficial! When it comes to helping your home or property rediscover its lost spark, upvc spraying is definitely a super convenient and effective solution you should consider. The drawback with UPVCs in general is the fact that they tend to get discoloured, scruffy or dull over time due to the elements as well as usage. In the previous years, when this occurs, the only option home and property owners had available to them was to replace the expensive upvc. However, good news is, you no longer have to go that length to have your home revitalized any more. With spray painting services for your home, you can easily achieve great results with little investment.

Using advanced technology as well as specially formulated paints, you can totally transform your home using just a fraction of the replacement cost within just a couple of days. If your upvc features appear to be quite unsightly and dull, spray painting can instantly improve their appearance while also enhancing the appearance of the whole property as well. Here are some of the benefits associated with spray painting:

• It helps you save money. Being an affordable alternative, spray painting upvc is about 75 percent cheaper when compared to the replacement cost.
• Improved appearance. This can instantly elevate the appearance of your home or make it an attractive choice for buyers if you wish to sell.
• Strengthen and protect. Using specially formulated paints and professional application, you can achieve long lasting and durable results.
• Finishing touch. There’s a variety of finishes you can opt for such as a satin, gloss or matt finish.

How To Paint Exterior Door?

The front or exterior door is an excellent way to add to your house’s visual appeal. You choose to add a little style, think outside the norm and stand out in a lot of ways.

The front door or exterior door is what your guests are going to first come in contact with and can go a long way to shape their impression about you. It’s also one of the very things that grabs attention when looking at a house from a distance. So if you’re going to paint it yourself, you should know there’s no room for errors. However, if you’re not confident enough then we’d recommend you hire the services of a reliable professional who can guarantee the best results for help. Here’s some top painting advice aimed at helping you getting the project done in a quick and easy manner.

✓ Prepare the front door. Detach the doors from the hinges ( you may decide not to completely detach the door). However, there’s the need to tape off and protect the exposed hardware or windows if you won’t be detaching the door completely before painting.

✓ Start to paint the front door. Use a brush to run along the taped area to create a frame in which the roller can easily work in. What’s more? If the exterior door is metal or fibreglass, you can create a more natural look by painting in the direction that would be on a wood door.

✓ To fill and refine your front door painting, you can simply roll the paint directly on the surface for a flat one-panel door. However, if it’s a panelled door, then you’ll have to first make use of your brush to paint the inlaid regions before using the roller on the flat, outer regions.