Painting and Decorating

Painting and Decorating
Manchester and Greater Manchester

Renovat Construction provides professional painting and decorating services across Greater Manchester. Interior and exterior painting, wallpapering, coving and specialist period property work. In 25 years decorating properties across the region we have encountered every condition Manchester's housing stock presents. Proper preparation, the right products for each surface, and a finish built to last.

Why Paint Fails on Manchester Properties and How We Prevent It

The most common decorating complaint we encounter across Greater Manchester is paint that peels, bubbles or stains within a year or two of application. The cause is almost always the same regardless of the property type or the paint brand used: inadequate preparation and the wrong product specified for the surface and conditions.

Greater Manchester's Victorian and Edwardian housing stock presents specific challenges that do not apply in newer properties. The lime-based plaster used in houses built before approximately 1920 is breathable by design. It absorbs and releases moisture as humidity changes throughout the year. When modern vinyl emulsion is applied directly to this plaster, it creates an impermeable film that traps moisture in the wall. The result is blistering and peeling paint within months, followed by mould growth behind the paint film. The solution is not a damp-proof paint applied on top. The solution is using a breathable paint formulation that allows vapour transmission through the wall, which is what the original plaster was designed to accommodate.

Artex ceilings are another common feature of Greater Manchester's housing stock, particularly in properties built or extended during the 1970s and 1980s. Artex applied before 2000 may contain chrysotile asbestos fibres in its texture compound. This does not make it dangerous if left undisturbed but it does mean it cannot be sanded or scraped without specialist removal. The safe and practical approach for artex ceilings is either overboarding with new plasterboard and skimming, or careful painting after a plaster skim coat applied over the texture by a qualified plasterer. We assess artex ceilings during every survey and advise on the safest and most appropriate approach before any work begins.

New plaster is the opposite problem. Fresh plaster is alkaline and porous. Applying standard emulsion directly to new plaster results in uneven absorption, patchy colour and poor adhesion. A mist coat of diluted emulsion must be applied first to seal the surface and allow any residual moisture to escape before full decoration proceeds. The correct drying time for new plaster varies with thickness and conditions but should not be rushed. We do not start decorating on new plaster until it is ready, even if it adds time to the programme.

Painting and Decorating Services We Provide

What Paint to Use on Victorian and Edwardian Houses in Manchester

This is the most important technical question for anyone decorating an older property in Greater Manchester, and it is consistently mishandled by decorators who specify modern products without understanding the substrate they are working on.

Walls and Ceilings in Pre-1920 Properties

Lime plaster walls and ceilings in Victorian and Edwardian properties require breathable paint. The correct products are mineral silicate paints such as Keim Granital or Beeck mineral paint, limewash, or breathable water-based emulsions formulated specifically for older buildings. Farrow and Ball's estate emulsion, Little Greene's intelligent matt emulsion and Earthborn's claypaint are all breathable formulations that perform well on older plaster. Standard Dulux vinyl emulsion is not appropriate as a single-coat finish on lime plaster walls without a breathable primer beneath it.

Where damp has caused the original plaster to powder or crumble, a stabilising solution must be applied before any decoration. Painting over unstable plaster without stabilising it produces paint that peels in sheets within weeks. Where active damp is present from an identifiable source such as a leaking gutter, failed pointing or rising damp, that source must be addressed before decoration. No paint product makes damp walls perform like dry ones. We identify active damp during preparation and flag it clearly before proceeding.

Woodwork in Older Properties

Original sash windows, panel doors, skirting boards and architraves in Victorian properties require careful preparation before painting. Resinous knots in softwood must be treated with knotting solution before priming to prevent resin bleed through the topcoat. Back-sanding between coats produces a smoother finish. Oil-based gloss gives the hardest finish for high-traffic woodwork but yellows on white paint over time. Water-based satinwood is increasingly preferred for white woodwork as it retains its colour better, though it requires more coats to achieve the same build as oil-based products.

Exterior Masonry and Render

Manchester's rainfall makes exterior masonry paint choice particularly important. Smooth masonry paint provides a cleaner finish but shows algae growth more quickly in the damp north-west climate. Textured masonry paint hides surface imperfections and provides better weather resistance. Anti-carbonation coatings are appropriate for exposed concrete elements in commercial properties. For rendered walls with hairline cracks, a flexible masonry paint or silicone render finish accommodates minor movement without cracking. We specify exterior products based on the substrate, exposure level and maintenance expectations of each property.

Why Preparation Is More Important Than Paint Brand

Homeowners frequently ask whether Farrow and Ball or Little Greene are worth the premium over trade paints. The answer is that the quality of the preparation matters more than the paint brand in determining how long the finish lasts and how well it looks. A budget emulsion applied after thorough preparation will outlast a premium paint applied over inadequate preparation by years.

Proper preparation means filling every crack and hole with the appropriate filler for the substrate — not the same filler for every surface. Hairline cracks in plaster need a flexible filler that accommodates movement. Larger holes need a setting filler built up in layers. Nail holes in woodwork need a different product again. Sanding back to a smooth surface after filling. Applying the correct primer to bare, repaired or previously painted surfaces depending on the condition. Washing down previously painted surfaces that are contaminated with grease or mould. Allowing sufficient drying time between preparation stages and between coats.

We do not skip preparation to speed up the programme. The time spent on preparation is the time that determines whether the job looks good in five years or needs redoing in two.

Painting and Decorating as Part of a Larger Renovation

The majority of our decorating work across Greater Manchester is the final stage of a larger house renovation or conversion project. After plastering is complete and second fix trades have finished, our decorators complete the project with painting, wallpapering and finishing throughout. This coordinated approach ensures decoration happens at exactly the right point in the programme and that the standard of the finish matches the standard of the renovation as a whole.

Standalone decorating is equally welcome. If you have completed your own building work and need a professional decorator to finish the project, we quote for decorating only. We assess the condition of surfaces during a site visit and advise on what preparation is needed before we begin. We do not assume surfaces are ready without checking.

Areas We Cover for Painting and Decorating

We decorate properties across all of Greater Manchester. Our experience covers the full range of property types in the region, from Victorian terraces in Chorlton, Didsbury, Levenshulme and Salford with their lime plaster walls and original timber features, to 1930s semis across Trafford and Stockport, post-war housing across Bolton and Wigan, and modern apartments and new builds throughout the region.