Painting and Decorating in the Algarve
Interior and exterior painting, with the preparation done before the first tin is opened.
Ninety per cent of a good paint job happens before the tin is opened. It is in the preparation — sanding, treating cracks, removing paint that no longer holds, applying a primer suited to the substrate — that it is decided whether the work lasts eight years or starts flaking the following winter.,In the Algarve, exterior painting has one specific enemy: the sun. A south-facing façade takes radiation all year round, and lower-grade paint loses its colour and its flexibility in two summers. It is always worth going up a grade outside, and we tell you so even when it makes our quote higher.
What's included
- Protecting what stays — Furniture, floors, frames and glass protected before we start. The house does not become unusable.
- Treating cracks and damp — Opening and repairing cracks, treating mould and correcting the cause where there is water ingress — painting over it only hides it.
- Substrate preparation — Sanding, removal of loose paint, filling and levelling until the wall is ready.
- The right primer — Primer chosen for the substrate: new render, old masonry, timber and metal all need different products.
- Two finishing coats — Branded paint, applied in two coats with the drying time respected between them.
- Joinery and metalwork — Doors, skirting, shutters, timber pergolas, gates and metal railings.
How we work
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1
Visit and assessment
We look at the condition of the substrate. A wall with rising damp is not solved by painting, and it is better to know that beforehand.
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2
Choosing colours and products
We help with the colour and explain the difference between grades. We put a sample on the wall when there is doubt.
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3
Preparation
Protection, repairs and primer. It is the longest stage and the one that makes the difference.
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4
Painting and handover
Finishing coats, removal of protection, cleaning and a final walk-through with you.
Work we have done
Real jobs, photographed by us.
Traditional house: paintwork, pergola and Santa Catarina tiling
Exterior paintwork in deep ochre red, a new solid timber pergola and the Santa Catarina floor tiles brought back.
Crack repair and finishing on a contemporary villa
Treatment of cracks, joints and junctions in a house of straight lines, where any wall defect shows from across the room.
Exterior painting of a villa with a veranda
Façade, veranda and outdoor ceilings repainted, with full protection of the paving and the glazing.
Interior painting and general repairs
Painting throughout the house alongside the repairs that turned up along the way, done by the same team.
Interior painting
Interior painting with proper wall preparation and protection of everything that stays in the house.
Painting and Decorating in your area
Every area has its own building stock and its own problems. See what we do where you live.
Painting and Decorating in Loulé
Loulé is our base.
Painting and Decorating in Almancil
Almancil and the golden triangle stretching out to Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago is the most demanding place we work — and, for that very reason, the one that keeps our finishing standards where they need to be.
Painting and Decorating in Faro
Faro is the district capital: more flats than houses, more landlords than resident owners, and jobs done with neighbours above, below and on both sides.
Painting and Decorating in Vilamoura
Vilamoura is an intensive holiday-letting area, and that changes everything about how you work: here the jobs live around the booking calendar.
Painting and Decorating in Boliqueime
Boliqueime is barrocal country: houses scattered across hillsides, smallholdings with almond and carob trees, and a lot of old building stock that has never been properly touched.
Painting and Decorating in São Brás
São Brás is the gateway to the hills: higher, cooler and wetter than the coast — and it is that difference in climate that defines the kind of work we do there.
Painting and Decorating in Santa Bárbara
Santa Bárbara de Nexe is villa country with a view — halfway up the slope between Faro and the barrocal, where a lot of people built the house they intend to stay in.
Frequently asked questions
How long does exterior paint last in the Algarve?
With proper preparation and good-grade paint, eight to ten years on a normal façade. On a south-facing façade or near the sea, expect less — five to seven years.
Can you paint with the house occupied?
We can, and it is the most common situation. We work room by room so part of the house is always usable, and we use water-based paints, which are practically odourless.
Will the cracks come back after painting?
If they are shrinkage cracks and they are opened, taped and filled with a flexible filler, they will not. If they are structural cracks, they will reopen — and in that case we tell you the problem is not one of painting.
What paint do you use on old houses?
On traditional walls we use mineral or lime-based paints, which let the wall breathe. Sealing an old wall with plastic paint traps the moisture and blows the render off before long.
Does the quote include the paint?
It includes everything: labour, materials, protection and cleaning afterwards. There are no extras appearing halfway through.
How much does it cost to paint a house?
It varies a lot with the condition of the walls. A house with sound walls is mostly labour and paint; a house with cracks, damp or flaking paint takes days of preparation before any painting, and that is where the quote goes up or down.
How many coats do you apply?
Two finishing coats, plus the primer suited to the substrate, with the drying time respected between them. On strong colour changes — dark to light, or a red like the one we applied to a house in São Brás — one more may be needed.
Can I choose the colour after you have started?
Up to the moment we buy the paint, yes. We put a sample on the actual wall when there is doubt: the colour in the chart and the colour on the wall, in the light of the house, are rarely the same thing.
Do you paint gates, railings and metalwork?
Yes. On metal the job is different: rust removal, anti-corrosion primer and enamel. Near the sea this is not optional — without anti-corrosion treatment the rust comes back through the paint before long.
How long before I can use the room?
With water-based paints, the same day. The smell is minimal and the paint continues to cure over the following weeks without bothering anybody.
Need painting and decorating?
We will come and look and give you an itemised quote, with no obligation.