Definitely not a grey day

Thankfully the British summer was on my side for a few days allowing me to paint this exterior. It definitely needed a bit of TLC as the external of this property hadn’t been painted for some years. And as such had deteriorated to the point that certain areas of the woodwork had sucome to rot.

The property needed scaffolding on the front and part of the side elevation’s due to the limited access for a ladder and for the height of the apex section on the front elevation. This was sourced by the client and erected before work began.

Repairs

After some repairs were carried out to the masonry and woodwork, a fair amount of wood filler was used, the woodwork, masonry and carport were all painted to the clients specification and colour choices.
I always work closely with the clients and advising them on such things as if scaffolding is required and where, and also the colour choices and the best types of paints to use, this is the best way to have a good client relationship and at the end of the day everyone is happy and knows what to expect by the end of each day, and the completion of the job.

The results

Once the work was all complete, the client was very happy with the results, saying, “I am delighted with the work you have done”. You can see the before, during and after in the pictures below.

A Recently completed exterior and testimonial

Sometimes it is nice to paint a house that isn’t just the run of the mill variant of beige (not that there’s anything wrong with beiges/creams), like this house I painted this summer. Greys are very popular at the moment and painting this property gave it a modern look. The client was very please and wrote a lovely testimonial, which you can read below.

On trend exterior colours

Grey is the new beige, well so they say, well painting this house in Sandtex smooth masonry paint Gravel on the walls and painting the bay tiles, porch roof tiles, bay brick and plinth in Dulux Weathershield smooth masonry paint Natural Slate certainly has given it a modern look.

Here are the before and after pictures.

Testimonial

The client was kind enough to write a review / testimonial, you can read it below, you can read more on my testimonials page.

Adrian was everything you hope for in a tradesman. He was happy to give a no obligation quote, and he turned up at the appointed time to look at the work I needed doing – I know this seems simple, but you wouldn’t believe the trouble I’ve had getting people to come along to give quotes!

His quote was very reasonable, so I booked him to carry out the work. A week or so before the date we’d agreed, he and Hazel emailed asking me to give details of the exact paint colours I required. He started work on the day we’d arranged and worked solidly, despite the blistering heat, for 3 days. He started work at 8am, finished at 5pm and left the area clean and tidy each day. The work was done to an excellent standard, and was finished slightly ahead of schedule. I was happy with the price, too!

Adrian was organised, polite, friendly and professional at all times – a really nice bloke. I am very happy to recommend Adrian to anyone who needs a painter & decorator, and will definitely ask him back to do work in the future.

I’m so pleased with the end result – my house looks loved again!

How to Choose a Paint Roller

When it comes to painting walls, ceilings or trim you need to consider the type of roller you need to use for the best results for the job you are doing. This not only includes the length of the roller but the nap or pile of the roller, a bigger nap roller will hold more paint, whereas as a smaller nap roller will hold less but will give a smoother finish.

You also have to have the correct roller cage or arm for the roller sleeve. Roller sleeves have a different diameter core, or hole, for where the cage fits into, it may have a 1 ½ inch or a 1 ¾ inch core so make sure you have a matching cage and roller sleeve.

Some rollers, such as a 4 inch mini rollers don’t need a cage, the sleeve has a small diameter core that slides over a arm. This is essentially a length of metal that has a right angled bend on the end to accept a mini roller sleeve. If you get a long arm for a 4 inch microfibre sleeve it is ideal for getting into those hard to reach places such as behind a radiator.
Some manufacturers do however make small rollers that do need a small ¾ frame for there 4 inch rollers.

Choosing the right roller sleeve for the job

Below is a list of roller sleeve pile thickness (nap) for a particular job, there are slight variations between manufacturers so thickness given is only a guide.

• Short pile – ⅜ nap (10mm approx) Ideal for smooth surfaces, newly plastered ceiling and walls, emulsions, eggshell and satin finishes.
• Medium pile – ½ nap (13mm approx) Ideal for semi-rough surfaces such as Artexed ceiling and walls, flat walls and ceilings, emulsions.
• Long pile – ¾ nap (19mm approx) Ideal for semi-rough to rough surfaces, emulsions, masonry paint.
• Extra long pile – 1 ¼ nap (32mm approx) Ideal for rough to very rough surfaces, masonry paints, emulsion.
• Mini microfibre roller – ⅜ nap (10mm approx) Ideal for smooth finishes, emulsion, new plaster.
• Foam roller – High Density Foam Ideal for smooth finishes, trim, gloss, satin and varnishes.

So basically a thin nap is ideal for flat surfaces, trim etc and thick nap is ideal for rough textured surfaces such as heavy artex or masonry. Foam rollers are great for trim, doors etc.

It is worth paying for a decent roller set up if you intend to use it more than once, some cheap DIY store offerings should be avoided as they do not last and the sleeve may molt leaving you with bits of roller sleeve in you paint, or you spending more time picking bits out of the paint rather than painting.