Preparing for the Contractor

General

• Prepare for the interruption of your daily routines when the job will take several days or weeks.
• If not present during work provide contact information.
• Decide how pets should be dealt with during the coming and going of the workers.
• Know your colors and the type of paint you want to use. 
• Decide on the paint brand, grade and sheen.
• Custom color matching should be done before work starts in case adjustments are necessary.
• Decide what needs to be painted, do not leave the contractor guessing at what needs to be done.
• Write down and give to the contractor the details of the job such as color names, paint types and what should be painted.
• Be ready to pay the balanced owed when you are satisfied the job is complete.
• A basic checklist can be printed from the page: printing checklist.

Interior Paint Jobs

• Will any light fixture, outlet box, towel rack, curtain rods or anything attached to the walls, ceiling or wood trim need to be moved or replaced?
• Decide if you want the outlet and switch plate covers painted.
• Remove valuables from the room and store them away from the work.
• Consider the room may need to be ventilated during painting.
• The temperature of the room may need to be adjusted.
• Notify the contractor if the room can be left “as is” at the end of the day or does it need to be cleaned up if the work in that room is not complete and the work will continue the next day.
• Exterior Paint Jobs
• On exterior home painting jobs the bushes and trees should be trimmed back if blocking areas to be painted.
• Provide a place to temporarily store storm windows, lawn furniture and plant containers.
• Unlock windows and doors so that all surfaces can be painted.
• Check gutters and downspouts for leaks or need of repair.
• Inspect the structure for rotten wood and decide if a carpenter should be called or will the painter perform the repair.

Airless Spraying

Applying paint to a surface by spraying produces the best paint finish possible, entirely free from brush and roller marks.

We offer an airless paint spraying service to all our customers whether it be painting large or small buildings , single houses, commercial projects or industrial factories. Airless spray painting can be applied to new or refurbished surfaces leaving a finish that no brush or roller can compete with.

Being up to 10 times faster than the conventional brush and roller techniques on new plaster, airless spraying can make light work of a large area to be painted or painting decorative coving leaving a better finish in a fraction if the time.

Exterior building painting and all decorating jobs where a high rate of paint application is required, airless spray is the only choice of spray equipment for the job. Multiple tip sizes and extension poles can be used depending on the surface area to be painted to speed up the process of painting. When painting houses or buildings, our pumps can handle all smooth decorative paints from stains and varnish, through gloss, primers, acrylics, vinyl emulsion to heavy masonry coatings.

We carry out all sorts of airless spray paint finishes including upvc front doors, metal and wood garage doors, shop fronts industrial buildings to mist coating new build projects if requested, for any inquires get in touch today.

Commercial Painting and Decorating Services

Getting your business back on track

A business renovation or relaunch is bound to benefit if you’ve re-decorated. Brighten your business or freshen up your office with a decorating service that delivers exceptional results. And we’ll make sure we work to your timetable too, minimising the impact on your daily operations and getting you back to business quickly.

No job too big or too small

Project size is never an issue.

Interiors and Exteriors

Our painters are fully skilled in all types of exterior and interior decorating. From window frames, doors and exteriors to internal walls, ceilings and even those fiddly bits in the corners, our expert painters and decorators can take on any job, no matter how big or small. Want to freshen up your kitchen or revive your living room? We can help. Is the outside of your house looking a little tired? We can revive it with a fresh coat of exterior paint and give it that fresh look again.

A personalised service, professionalism from start to finish and an outstanding result whether it’s an interior or exterior decorating project – at Manhattan Painters we put the emphasis on customer satisfaction and delivering a premium service from start to finish.

Learn more about our Interior decorating services  about our Exterior Decorating services.

Painting techniques

Preparation is key when painting and decorating. Chose the right tools for the job to get the effects you want for your home.

Invest in a flexible frame:

It’s worth buying a good-quality paint roller, with a cage that spins freely and springs back into position when you squeeze it. Look for a comfortable handle, with a threaded insert to take an extension pole.

The pole will save you bending if you want to paint a floor, or climbing a stepladder to reach ceilings. A telescopic pole is the most versatile type.

Choose your sleeve carefully:

Use a cheap foam roller sleeve for general painting work where the standard of the finish is not important. For a good finish on a very smooth surface, a mohair sleeve with a short pile is best. A sleeve with a long lambswool or synthetic fibre pile forces paint into every crevice on a highly textured surface.

Use a long-nap sleeve with a tough nylon pile on rough exterior surfaces such as pebbledash.

Create a textured finish:

A sculptured roller sleeve will add a textured finish to a flat surface. Hessian, bark, swirl, patchwork and stipple effects are among those available. Some can be used to create a repeating pattern with successive parallel passes of the roller.

What size brush?

The general rule is to use the widest brush that you can handle comfortably, and which is appropriate for the surface being painted. A 100mm brush is ideal for applying emulsion paint to walls, while a 75mm one is better for gloss-painting flat woodwork.

The wider the brush, the quicker you can paint, making it easier to keep a wet edge as you work.

Get the best from a cheap brush:

A cheap brush is fine if a good finish isn’t important—when brightening up an under-stairs cupboard, for example. Try to use the brush for priming and undercoating first, so that when it’s time to apply the top coat it has stopped shedding bristles.

Natural versus synthetic:

Modern synthetic fibre brushes will perform as well as all but the finest hog bristle brushes, and suffer far less from ‘hair loss’ in use. They are also easier to clean than bristle brushes, and keep their shape better too.