The Summer Bug!

It seems a lot of London get the summer bug. Now you may be asking yourself, what is the summer bug?
The summer bug is where it seems that everyone decides to get painting and decorating works done in the summer. Now you can ask any painter or decorator this and they will confirm it. The summer is our busiest season.

There are a few factors that explain this. The summer is the best time in London, and the rest of England, to get any exterior works done to your home. So a lot of the work that we end up doing is exterior based.

The English weather takes its toll on the exterior of your house. We get a lot of wind and rain, and over the recent years more than our fair share of snow and ice. I would have to advice that you get regular maintenance carried out every few years to your exterior masonry and windows to prevent major repair works being needed.

Sash windows are a lovely asset to a home, however, they need re-decorated every 5-7 years if done correctly, this will prevent wood rot, and damp or water entering your home. If you suspect that you have a little bit of rot on your window frames, that’s fine, it can be repaired, the summer is the best time to do it. We will cover it and it will dry out rather quickly in the current climate, before cutting it out and doing whatever repairs are needed to it. It is best to catch such things early. If the rot gets too bad, we would have to recommend that you get new windows to replace them, and that can get very costly.

I have to give the same advice on your brick work and masonry. Good decoration and painting works done to the exterior elevations of your house, should last around 7-10 years. This is if it has been done properly, and all problem areas have been correctly handled and treated. If you notice the paint on your bricks has started to bubble or look like something has ‘fizzed’ underneath it, these are signs of water damage, or damp. It is best to get a quotation for re-decoration works as soon as possible, as a full blown damp treatment, or having to re-point the entire elevation can get quite costly, and if caught soon enough can be prevented.

A lot of exterior work gets done in the summer, its hard to do it in the winter, bad weather can delay the work.
But that isn’t the only work that gets done in the summer. It seems a lot of people respond to the sun shining by wanting to make the rooms in their house feel fresh and light too. With the school holidays, and family trips planned, it is an ideal time for us to come in while you are away. This way all the work can get done at a greater speed, and you don’t have decorators under your feet. Not everyone likes to have the smell of wet paint in their house, and dust sheets all around while they are trying to serve dinner, so if you are going away on holiday you may like to consider it to be a good time to get some decorating done.