Find a Decorator you can trust in Newcastle.

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

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.

If you’re thinking about spraying your upvc, then one of the first things that naturally comes to mind is the price of completing such a task. If you’re also interested in determining the price, then you’ve come to the right place! In this post, we’re going to take a look at the total cost involved in UPVC spraying.

First and foremost, it must be stated that UPVC spraying is an industry that’s highly competitive. And as you would have guessed the prices are largely influenced the experience and reputation of the company you opt for. In other words, the new entrant companies are usually the cheapest but their works are not particularly the best. Therefore, for a high quality job, it’s always recommended to make use of a well established and highly reputable company in the industry.

If you’re going to hire a vastly experienced and reputable firm in the industry, then you should budget about circa £140 to £160 per window, circa £210 to £250 per door and frame, circa £260 to £300 for a large garage door and circa £600 to £800 for a three bed semi detached house.

These prices include materials, labour as well as other related costs. However, you should note that they’re only estimated prices and you’ll have to call in a professional in order to get a more accurate quote. If you’re looking to paint all the UPVC in your home, there are usually discounts that will be provided based on the work load. What’s more? If there’s a need for scaffolding, then there can be a bump up in the price.

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.

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.

There are lots of paints that are suitable for different areas of your property. In general, gloss and eggshell paints should be used in high traffic areas, whereas matte paints are suitable for lower traffic areas. Professional painters and decorators can give you advice on the most suitable types of paints.

How To Paint Skirting Boards

In the exact same way a room isn’t complete unless it has all the right finishing touches here and there, your skirting boards also just wouldn’t be right leaving it without a paint. As you can imagine, skirting board can quickly gather dust, dirt and scuffed over time can affect the appearance of the entire room. But you don’t have to wait for this to happen before painting your skirting boards. Good news is, painting of skirting boards is relatively easy and straightforward especially when you follow the guide given in this article. It should, however, be said that if you’re not so confident about holding a brush and doing the task yourself, then getting a professional painter to complete the project will be a great option to achieve the best result while you can focus on other important things.

Painting your skirting board will help provide your room with the much needed perfect frame. Now let’s take a closer look!

✓ Prepare your skirting boards. Treat your wood skirting board with a knotting solution and wood primer. But if they’re already painted or varnished, simply wipe clean use a wet and dry paper with a mild detergent to abrade the surface. Once done, you can then run a strip of masking tape along the floor.

✓ Start Painting. For the decorative coat, you can use any paint designed for wood and metal like satin, gloss etc. Once selected, you can then start to paint across the top with the help of a 2 inch brush. Then move to the flat side. Work in easy to manage sections and when starting the next section, start at the far side and brush into the section you’ve just painted so as to make for an even finish. Finally, remove the masking tape used before the paint dries off.

Over the years, UPVC spray painting has grown to become a standard practice. Previously, what was done when people wanted to change the colour of their UPVC window is simply to replace the old ones. However compared to the cost of replacing the units, it’s actually a lot easier to simply have your UPVC windows sprayed and even more importantly, at just a fraction of the replacement cost. If you’re thinking about spraying your upvc windows, then you’ve come to the right place! In this post, we’re going to take you through the entire process. However, if you lack the confidence needed to pull this off, we’d strong advise that you get in touch with a professional to avoid make costly errors or mistakes.

The first step to successful upvc window spraying is always to make sure that the upvc is properly cleaned by removing any loose dirt and residue, getting rid of any muck and grime which has developed over the years. You can also abrade the surface in a very light manner to leave upvc frames with a key to make the paint adhesions stronger. Once you’re done with the preparation, the obvious next step is masking off. This process requires you to protect the walls, glass, floors and brickwork from any potential over spray. To achieve this, you can make use of masking papers.

Upon completion of the masking off process, then its time to spray paint the upvc windows using a spray gun and spray painter. This requires a lot of practice as it could be very dangerous as you can inject yourself with paint, which can be seriously fatal.