Painters in Adelaide's Eastern Suburbs

Local painting considerations

• Stone villas and lime mortar

  The bluestone and sandstone villas of Norwood, St Peters and Kensington were built with lime mortar so the walls can dry out through the joints. We do not paint the stone, and we steer owners away from sealers and membranes on it. The painted elements are the rendered quoins, bands and chimneys, the timber fascias, posts and fretwork, the window joinery and any cast iron. Render is patched with a compatible mix, primed and coated with a breathable acrylic, with preparation in line with AS/NZS 2311:2017.

• Lead paint in pre-1970 homes

  Almost every house in the east built before 1970 has lead paint under the surface, whether a Norwood terrace or a Toorak Gardens bungalow, and the earliest coats can be very high in lead. Our approach follows AS/NZS 4361.2:2017. Where the old paint is sound it stays put and gets overcoated. Where it is flaking we wet sand or chemically strip with drop sheets and containment, never dry sanding or using a flame. Skirtings, sashes and doors inside older homes get the same care.

• Clay soils and cracked render

  The plains from Payneham and Firle through to Campbelltown sit on reactive clay that swells and shrinks with the seasons, and rendered walls crack where the house moves: corners, window heads, parapets and the junction of old and new. We cut out and fill cracks with flexible fillers and coat the wall with an elastomeric membrane so the film stretches instead of splitting. Repainting a cracked wall with a standard acrylic only hides the problem until the next dry summer.

• Foothills exposure and bushfire zones

  Homes on the hills face at Stonyfell, Auldana, Skye and Athelstone have two problems. West-facing walls and decks cop the afternoon sun, so dark colours run hot and timber greys off quickly; we use UV-resistant 100% acrylic topcoats and suggest lighter tones. The gullies at Waterfall Gully and around Morialta are shaded and damp, so mould treatment and mould-resistant paints go on south walls and eaves. Much of the foothills is bushfire prone; paint does not change a BAL rating, but sealed timber and sound eaves are basic maintenance.