Painters & Decorators near you

Ask a decorator to describe their preparation and you learn most of what you need to know. Interior work starts with protecting floors and furniture, then washing down surfaces to remove grease and nicotine, filling cracks and nail holes, caulking the gaps where skirting boards and architrave meet the wall, sanding back filler and glossy surfaces so the new coat can grip, and priming bare plaster, timber, filler and any stains that would otherwise bleed through.

Exterior work adds more. Loose and flaking coatings come off, bare timber is treated and primed, failed sealant around window frames is cut out and replaced, and rust on railings or downpipes is taken back before priming. Nothing should be painted over damp. A decorator who wants to trace a damp patch back to a leaking gutter or a failed seal before covering it is doing you a favour, not stalling.

Lead paint is the real hazard in older housing. Public health guidance states that lead paint was common before the 1970s and has not been used after 1992, and that paint of that era may have contained up to half its weight in lead. Intact paint in good condition is generally sealed in and unlikely to expose anyone. The danger is created by the work: guidance notes that children with raised blood lead levels may have inhaled dust and fumes from old paint removal during redecoration of older properties.

That is why the method matters more than the material. The Health and Safety Executive lists stripping or preparing leaded paint from doors and windows, hot cutting of leaded paint and blast removal of old leaded paint among the activities that create lead exposure, and advises against overheating leaded paint with blow lamps or gas torches, keeping hot air guns and infrared equipment below 500 degrees Celsius, and considering wet abrasive paper and a scraper instead of methods that create dust and fume. Dry sanding old paintwork in an occupied family home is the wrong answer.

Asbestos is the other constraint, and it changes what a decorator may touch. The Health and Safety Executive states that asbestos may be part of any commercial or domestic building built or refurbished before the year 2000, and that it was used until it was banned in 1999. Textured decorative coatings on ceilings and walls are among the materials that may contain it, which is directly in a decorator's path when someone asks for a textured ceiling to be sanded flat. HSE's instruction is unambiguous: stop work immediately, confirm what the material is or assume it is asbestos, and carry out a risk assessment to determine whether the work needs a licensed contractor.

Under the 2012 VOC regulations, the label on a tin must state the sub-category of the product and the relevant VOC limit values measured in grams per litre, together with the maximum content of VOC in grams per litre of the product ready for use. That is the one piece of comparable information printed on every tin, and it is worth using when you are choosing a finish for a nursery, a bedroom or any room that cannot be ventilated well for several days.

In practice most interior wall and ceiling paint sold in Britain is water-based. Woodwork is where the choice bites: modern water-based trim paints are low in odour and quick to recoat but can be less forgiving of poor preparation, while traditional solvent-based gloss flows differently and smells strongly for longer. Ask the decorator which they intend to use on skirting boards and doors, and why, rather than leaving it to whatever is in the van.

Exterior decorating in Britain is scheduled around moisture as much as temperature. Surfaces need to be dry, and every coating has a minimum application temperature and maximum humidity printed on the tin; painting a cold, damp wall late on an autumn afternoon leaves a film that never cures properly. Late spring through early autumn gives the longest reliable windows, and a decorator will usually stop early enough in the day to avoid evening dew settling on fresh paint.

Interior work is far less weather-dependent, but ventilation still matters. In winter, rooms are closed up and heating is on, so solvent odour lingers and water-based coatings dry more slowly in humid, unventilated spaces. Plan for windows to be opened periodically, and for a room with new woodwork to be left as clear as possible while the finish hardens, which takes longer than it takes to feel dry.

Decoration fails at the edges first. Keep gutters clear so water is not running down a painted wall, deal with condensation in bathrooms and kitchens by using extract ventilation, wipe rather than scrub washable finishes, and touch up chips on skirting boards and door frames before bare timber is exposed. Keep the leftover tins somewhere frost-free, labelled with the room they belong to.

When you are ready to get quotes, LokalMatch lets you describe the decorating job once, including the rooms or elevations involved, the age of the property and whether you suspect old paint or textured coatings, and matched decorators in your postcode area contact you. The professionals pay for those requests. LokalMatch does not carry out the decorating, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend any decorator, so ask each one how they intend to prepare the surfaces and how they will handle old paint before you choose.