How do I even out this wall before painting it?

last year

My son has a Victorian Cottage. It needs a lot of work including painting the exterior gable which is a mess. Please can anyone advise on how to proceed with how to prepare a level surface for painting? I've scraped some loose paint off and the render is dry but powdery underneath. Also to put up scaffolding is going to cost thousands, because the council charge for a permit. Any advice about painting high up?

All advice (very) gratefully received!

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Comments (10)

Sonia
last year
When we had some chimney work done the roofer hired scaffolders so that he can reach the chimneys safely. The cost of the scaffolding was about £300 for the front of our terraced house. This was for a few days. Your price seems extortionate. You may be able to hire a scaffold platform tower (my builder brother has one) but they must be assembled correctly and not a job for an amateur. You may be better hiring a decorator with his own platform. It shouldn’t take them too long to prep and paint it.
Stephanie James
Original Author
last year
Thanks for your reply, Sonia. We understand that if a decorator puts up scaffolding, it is restricting the highway access next to the house, and it requires some council permits which are really expensive. Decorator quotes inc these permits were eye-watering! Min of £8000 from 3 contractors for what is a small area. Or am I just getting old?
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Don’t worry too much about the cost of plasterboard it’s about £7 a sheet and standard size is 2.4m tall and 1.2m wide so you can work out the cost to renew the whole room or just the bad bits (I bet you don’t need to do it all) plus they’d either use battens to fix to the wall, again cheap just lengths of timber screwed into your existing brick walls or dot and dab where they use big blobs of adhesive to stick the plasterboard to the wall. Get a few local well rated plasterers in to give you a price and you will know exactly where you are with it. Better still get a recommendation from a friend. Also the tearing out of the room may save you a bit of cost so ask for a price to do it with them doing the demolition or you doing it yourself it’s really easy to do and might save a few pounds. I’ve popped a pic on of some of my old house I stripped completely, it’s easy if a bit messy!
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Sonia
last year
Crikey that’s a fortune. Just to paint a wall! Oh I hope you find a solution.
Stephanie James
Original Author
last year
I'm glad you think so, too! Thanks Sonia!
Sonia
last year
I’ll ask my brother if that is excessive.
Stephanie James
Original Author
last year
Thanks! this is so kind of you.
Sonia
last year
Stephanie my brother said that price is extortionate. He said yes you need council permission, but that along with the hire of the scaffold for an apex wall should cost £1500 - £2000 maximum. That means they are charging £6000 for prep and painting! Give them the boot and get more quotes and try to get recommendations.
Stephanie James
Original Author
last year
Really appreciate this Sonia! I will pass on the inf to my son and thanks for all your help x
Angie
last year
When we had our roof re-slated, we arranged the scaffolding ourselves which worked out less expensive than the roofer doing it. Might be worth your son sorting out the permit and scaffolding himself, then engaging someone to do the repairs and paintwork using the scaffolding.
Stephanie James
Original Author
last year
Thanks Angie: we'll look into this! Worth a go.....

How do I even out this wall before painting it?

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Sonia

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How do I even out this wall before painting it?

Comments (10)

Sonia

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