Painters & Decorators in Hampstead

Hampstead's housing is dominated by Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian property, a high proportion of it within conservation areas and a significant amount listed. Solid walls, lime-based original finishes and original timber joinery are the norm rather than the exception.

That rules out the default approach. A solid wall needs to dry out, and sealing it with a modern impermeable masonry paint traps moisture in the structure. On these buildings we use breathable mineral coatings, and the specification follows the building rather than the price list.

Many Hampstead properties also sit on slopes with basements and lightwells, which brings its own damp and access considerations on the lower levels.

Interior decorating including wallpapering is under interior painting; exterior and masonry work under exterior painting.

Original floorboards and parquet are often worth restoring rather than covering — see wooden flooring. Bathrooms and kitchens are under tiling, and the roofline under fascias and soffits.

We also take on wallpapering · heat-reflective coating · StoColor Dryonic · whiteboard walls.

Access is usually the largest single variable. Narrow streets, restricted parking, slopes and shared frontages all make scaffolding and material handling slower here than on an open suburban elevation, and scaffold is charged by the week regardless of how much painting happens in it.

Condition is the second. On buildings of this age, preparation dominates: failing previous coatings, decayed joinery and render that has been patched badly at some point all add hours before a finish coat goes anywhere.

Specification is the third, and on a listed or conservation-area property it is often not a free choice. Breathable coatings cost more per litre than general-purpose masonry paint, and on a solid wall they are the difference between a facade that lasts and a damp problem indoors.