Painters in Adelaide's Inner Southern Suburbs

Local painting considerations

• Heritage villas and lead paint

  The villas and bungalows of Unley, Hyde Park and Colonel Light Gardens were painted with lead-based paint, and it is still there under the later coats on timber verandahs, windows, doors and fretwork. We follow AS/NZS 4361.2:2017: sound paint is left alone and overcoated, failing paint is wet sanded or stripped under containment, and there is no dry sanding or burning off. Stonework stays unpainted. In Colonel Light Gardens an exterior scheme may need council approval because the suburb is a State Heritage Area, so check first.

• Salt and wind on the coast

  From Glenelg down to Seacliff and Marino the prevailing westerly carries salt straight onto the front of the house. Beachfront apartments and homes need a full wash-down before painting, rust treated and primed with a corrosion-inhibiting primer on balustrades and steel, and a 100% acrylic topcoat that resists UV and chalking. Marine-grade systems go on anything in direct spray. Strata buildings along the Esplanade tend to repaint the whole facade at once so the colour stays consistent from balcony to balcony.

• Shade, mould and bushfire zones

  Belair, Blackwood, Eden Hills and Coromandel Valley are cooler, wetter and shadier than the plains. South-facing walls, eaves and timber under trees grow mould, so we wash with an anti-mould treatment first and use mould-resistant paints. Decks, pergolas and timber cladding weather fast under gum trees and need regular recoating. Much of this area is bushfire prone and carries a BAL rating under AS 3959. Paint does not change that rating, but sealed timber and sound eaves and gutters are basic maintenance for a house in the bush.

• Clay soils and cracking render

  The plains suburbs from Unley across to Marion and Morphettville sit on reactive clay. It swells in winter and shrinks in summer, and rendered and masonry walls crack at the movement points: corners, lintels, parapets and the join between a 1920s bungalow and its 1990s extension. We rake and fill cracks with flexible fillers and coat cracked render with an elastomeric membrane so the finish moves with the wall instead of splitting again the next summer.