Professional experienceINTERIOR PLASTERING/GIB-STOPPING
Whether you have small holes that need patching or a full interior to gib-stop, our plasterers are top notch.
INTERIOR PAINTING
New builds or re-paints, we can do it all the highest standard.
Our focus is on preparation of all surfaces so that when the paint goes on it looks perfect and stays put.
Even something as simple as filling a nail hole or caulking a crack, we take the time to make it look perfetto. The reason for this perfectionism is primarily because we spray our trim wherever possible. This provides the finest brushstroke-free finish customers love. However, sprayed surfaces don’t hide anything, so the smallest defect will show in the finish. We hate that.
When we roll ceilings and walls, we use perfect techniques and the best quality naps to ensure the finish looks one-piece with minimum roller stipple. You won’t see a single roller line or any kind of patchy finish that amateur painters provide. This is particularly important in hallways, where you are always looking at a compressed lengthwise view of the walls, which shows up every defect. The last thing you want is patchiness and lines here.
If we need to brush trim, our goal is always to minimise brush strokes. We have our own secrets for obtaining these results.
EXTERIOR PAINTING – WEATHERBOARDS/SIDING, WINDOWS AND TRIM
Again, whether it’s a new build or a restoration, the primary focus is on preparation. The painting is the cream on the cake.
We analyse the timber substrate to determine what type of primer is required. This is important to avoid future bubbling or delamination. Certain timbers bleed oil, some more than others. Cedar, for example, needs a good thick coat of a stain-blocking primer before top-coating, to avoid brown tannins bleeding through to the top coats. Many older homes use native New Zealand timber and bubbling can be a problem. Oil-based primer should be used in these circumstances.
For weatherboards, we strip all loose or flaking paint and fill any divots to provide an as-new surface. We caulk gaps to provide a one-piece look. Nothing worse than glaring gaps on a new paint job.
Window sashes can be problematic. We re-putty any missing areas, sand thoroughly, fill all holes and gaps and, finally, MASK the windows. Many painters like to boast that they can cut a straight line against the window glass. We can too. But we don’t, for a number of reasons:
You will not properly seal the gap between the putty and the glass pane. When you manually cut in a window, you tend to do it gently and lightly, to avoid getting paint on the glass. Often, this means the paint doesn’t get into the gap properly. With a masked window, however, you can stuff paint into that gap so that it provides a genuine, long-lasting seal, without fear of messing up your hand-cut line.
The lines are perfect. Often, we run across less than perfect putty jobs, where the putty lines are rather wavy. With masking tape, you can manually straighten those lines. This would be difficult and slow to achieve via manual cut-ins and most painters wouldn’t even try, blaming the bad lines on the glazier. But whether or not the putty lines are wavy, by masking the windows, you can be certain of dead straight lines over the course of a multiple coat job.
The job is faster. Masking takes some time, but for windows requiring 2-3 coats, this time is quickly made up again because you can move quickly across each sash, rather than carefully trying to avoid getting paint on the windows, several times over. You can focus on what you need to paint, rather than what you need to AVOID painting.
ROOFS
We love doing roofs and having the right spray equipment makes it quick and well-priced for the homeowner.
Different roofs require different treatment but the process generally begin with a moss/lichen removal and waterblast.
For metal roofs, rust spots are wire-brushed to remove loose scale, then treated with a rust-converter to stop it from spreading. Larger rust holes can generally be fixed with a bitumen-backed “flashing tape”. For concrete/clay tiled roofs, some repointing may be required and a sealer coat may be needed.
Once cleaned and repaired, top coats are applied using spray equipment. Care needs to be taken to avoid paint “flashing” and overlap marks. This happens when a long length is painted in sections. If the paint starts to dry before you are able to move to the next section, the result is obvious shiny overlap marks and a general unsightly patchy finish. For this reason, wherever possible, we try to spray complete lengths of roof with a single pass. This isn’t always possible, so we have other techniques we use to ensure that we always maintain a “wet edge” and avoid any ugliness.
FENCES, DECKS, GARAGE DOORS
With our spray equipment making these tasks quick and easy, we can generally quote low while providing the best finish.
Any rough-sawn timber will need the first coat to be back-rolled to ensure the paint penetrates properly into the wood grain. Smooth, dressed timber can generally be sprayed immediately.
KITCHEN CABINET DOORS
No need to spend thousands updating your kitchen cabinets. These can be prepared and sprayed easily to a very nice finish.
We dismantle and take the doors and drawer fascias off-site to be prepared and sprayed. We mask and spray the carcass in situ, and when the doors are dry, we re-fit them for you. Easy!
TILE FLOORS
Many people think you cannot paint tiled floors. Well, you can! And we have, successfully, for customers that wanted a new look for their foyer, kitchen and bathroom floor tiles. This is feasible only for the textured type or non-slip tile. If your tiles are highly glossed, it is difficult to guarantee adhesion for any long period of time.
We carefully prepare the surface and use powerful two-pack paints that stick extremely well. The result is instant modernisation of your floors at a fraction of the cost of re-tiling.
