Decorating Services in London

Decorating Services in London

Most of the time on a decorating job goes on preparation. Filling, sanding, washing down, raking out cracks, priming bare timber. The top coat is the quick part. If the surface underneath is cracked, flaking or greasy, the new paint shows it within months.

In older London houses the walls and ceilings are often lime plaster on wooden laths, with a hundred years of paint on top. That plaster moves with the house, and the cracks come back if they’re just filled and painted.

Preparing old walls and ceilings

Fine cracks are raked out, filled and sanded. The gap where the ceiling meets the wall usually opens and closes with the seasons, so it’s filled with flexible decorator’s caulk instead of a hard filler. Badly crazed lath and plaster ceilings are often covered with lining paper before painting. It’s cheaper than replastering, and it holds the surface together.

Victorian ceilings and cornices were usually painted with distemper, a mix of chalk and animal glue. Modern emulsion doesn’t stick to it. Paint it over and within a year it peels off in sheets. Distemper is soft and washes off with warm water, so the fix is to wash it back first. Cornices that have lost their detail under layers of it can be cleaned out the same way.

New plaster is different again. A fresh skim needs about a week to dry in good conditions, longer in winter, and then a mist coat: watered-down emulsion that soaks in and gives the next coats something to grip. Vinyl paints straight on new plaster tend to peel.

Old paint: lead and asbestos

Houses painted before the 1960s almost certainly have lead paint on the woodwork somewhere, usually under later coats on skirting, doors and windows. It was widely used until then, and banned from general sale in 1992. Dry sanding or burning it off releases lead dust and fumes. The rules for anyone employing decorators are set out in the Control of Lead at Work Regulations:

“An employer shall not carry out work which is liable to expose any employees to lead unless he has— (a) made a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that work to the health of those employees and of the steps that need to be taken to meet the requirements of these Regulations; and (b) implemented the steps referred to in sub-paragraph (a).”

Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002, regulation 5(1)

On site that means testing suspect paint, using wet abrasive paper or chemical strippers, vacuuming with a proper filter, and keeping children and pregnant women away from the room while it’s done.

Textured ceilings are the other issue. Coatings like Artex, applied in a lot of London houses and flats between the 1960s and 1980s, can contain a small amount of white asbestos (chrysotile). The asbestos regulations are clear about what has to happen first:

“An employer must not undertake work in demolition, maintenance or any other work which exposes or is liable to expose employees of that employer to asbestos in respect of any premises unless either— (a) that employer has carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment as to whether asbestos, what type of asbestos, contained in what material and in what condition is present or is liable to be present in those premises; or (b) if there is doubt as to whether asbestos is present in those premises, that employer— (i) assumes that asbestos is present, and that it is not chrysotile alone, and (ii) observes the applicable provisions of these Regulations.”

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 5

A sample sent to a lab costs little and gives an answer in a few days. Painting over a sound textured ceiling is fine. Scraping or sanding it off isn’t, until you know what’s in it. If you want a smooth ceiling, it can be skimmed over or boarded, which leaves the coating sealed in.

Paint

Most interior paint is water-based now. Limits on solvents in decorative paints were phased in across Europe in 2007 and 2010, and they still apply in the UK, so oil-based gloss is less common than it was. Water-based paints for doors and skirting dry fast and don’t yellow. Oil-based ones flow out better and leave fewer brush marks, but turn yellow over time, especially in darker rooms.

For walls, the choice is mostly about wear. Flat matt hides uneven old plaster but marks easily. Washable matt or eggshell is better in hallways, kitchens and children’s rooms. Bathrooms need a paint made to resist moisture, plus a working extractor fan.

Colour looks very different in London rooms depending on which way they face. North-facing rooms get cool, even light all day, and greys can look cold in them. South-facing rooms change a lot from morning to evening. Try sample patches on more than one wall and look at them at different times of day before ordering.

Wallpaper

Wallpaper needs a smooth surface, so old walls are often lined first. Heavy papers and murals are hung with a paste matched to the paper, and some designs need the wall to be painted to a set colour underneath so the joins don’t show.

Two bits of history. Britain taxed wallpaper from 1712 to 1836, which is part of why older houses often had painted walls instead. And many green Victorian wallpapers were coloured with arsenic pigments like Scheele’s green. If you find very old paper under later layers, wear a mask when stripping it.

Exterior decorating

Outside work in London is about the weather and the scaffold. Most masonry paints shouldn’t go on below about 5 to 8 degrees or onto damp walls, which limits most exterior work to between spring and early autumn. Scaffolding on the pavement needs a licence from the council.

Stucco fronts in Kensington, Notting Hill, Belgravia and Pimlico are often in conservation areas. Some estate leases and covenants set the colour and how often the front has to be repainted, often every four or five years. Check the lease before choosing a colour. Masonry paint on stucco has to let moisture out, or the render behind it blows.

When decorating happens in a renovation

On a full refurbishment, decorating comes after plastering and second fix, and before the final floor finishes go down. Final coats on skirting and doors are often done after the floor is laid so any scuffs can be touched in. Kitchens and bathrooms are usually decorated as part of the kitchen decoration and bathroom work, once the tiling and units are in.

A single room typically takes two to four days. A whole house is usually a few weeks, depending on how much prep the woodwork needs.

Force Builders carries out interior and exterior decorating in houses and flats across London.

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London Decorating FAQ: Your Questions Answered

Do I need to move all my furniture out before you start?

No. Small items and breakables should be cleared. Larger furniture is moved to the middle of the room and covered.

How long does it take for the paint smell to go away?

With water-based paints, usually a few hours with the windows open. Oil-based paints and some primers smell for a day or two.

Why is my quote higher than a “standard” painter’s?

Usually because it includes more preparation: raking out and filling cracks, washing off distemper, priming bare wood, lining ceilings. That’s what stops cracks and peeling coming back.

Can you help me pick the right “grey”? (Or any other colour)

Yes. The same colour looks warmer or colder depending on which way the room faces and how much light it gets. Sample patches on two walls, looked at in the morning and evening, are the most reliable test.

How do you handle “fussy” period features like Victorian cornicing?

Old distemper is washed out of the detail first so the pattern shows again, then the cornice is painted with a breathable paint. Damaged sections can be repaired with lime or run in plaster by a specialist.