Painting a villa

[ConfusedBuyer]

I am just in the process of buying a villa on the outskirts of Carvoeiro, and one of the first things I will need to do is get it painted, as the last paint job was 6 years ago, and there is a lot of dark looking fungus on the North side of the building. I noticed an advert in a local paper from a company called "NoNeedtoPaint", who state that their method results in the property not needing to be repainted for 20 years. Has anyone used them, and if you have, were you satisfied with the job?

[andara]

Not heard of them. I have, however, just had my 3 bedroom villa painted externally. The job lasted 4 weeks (not all full time) and cost 3,380 euros. The work involved stripping down the old paintwork almost to the raw brick in places to fully expose the inevitable cracks in the walls, repair the cracks with some sort of gauze which was then covered with a mixture of cement and a special adhesive, giving a very smooth finish, 2 coats of primer and three coats of textured paint. The result is outstanding. Before agreeing to go ahead with the work, the builder, Dan (a Romanian who has lived in Portugal for 10 years), took me to several other houses in the area to see the quality of his work, which is consistently very high quality.

He has several Portuguese staff, all of whom appear to be experts at their particular function, and I cannot praise them all highly enough.

If you are in Carvoeiro and want to come and inspect the quality of the work, just send me a pm.

[Madeofmoney]

Hi There

My next door neighbour in Majorca used them 15 years ago they worked on the villa for 3 months and in under a year after they had finished the villa looked awful,peeling etc,thankfully he got it Re done by an English company who were long established on the Island and it still looks decent to this day why I'm telling you all this is because two of the guys from that company relocated to Albufeira some 11 years ago and have worked for me on 3 separate villas there in the Algarve and have done a sterling job on all three properties,I'm not sure if they were cheap or dear as I didn't get other quotes because I knew the standard of there work.i have there phone number but cannot access it until I get back out there in ten days time,if you would like there number I will dig it out for you when I get there alternatively Stevie Smith is another painter of good repute but I don't have his number but any of the bars in town will have it!

[laserblazer]

Ours was stripped back to the brickwork and they used a thermo-plastic type rendering. I don't know the details but after three years it still looks pristine, although it has melted around the chimney. I can PM you the details if you like.

[ConfusedBuyer]

Thanks to you all for your replies. I would really appreciate if you could send me their contact details (preferably e-mail addresses if possible as I am currently in the UK), so I can ask for some quotes.

Thanks again.

[laserblazer]

PM sent

[ConfusedBuyer]

Thanks

[laserblazer]

Good luck.

[andara]

Pm sent.

[ConfusedBuyer]

Sorry, one more question. I was told that it is best to wait until after the rainy season at Easter to paint the property. Does this make sense or could I potentially look to get the villa painted in.march?

[laserblazer]

Depends on the weather. It can absolutely chuck it down (not good) or you could be lucky. What my neighbour did was do a wall at a time, that allowed him to work around the weather. Trouble is, if you get a contractor, he's going to say it will be fine and then charge you extra because he was delayed by the rain or had to redo a wall because it was rained on.

[RichardHenshall]

And even if it doesn't rain, heavy dew can significantly lengthen drying time, or shorten the day when paint can be safely applied.

[ConfusedBuyer]

OK - so leave the paint job until May or does it start to dry out in the second half of April, so could (depending on how long it takes to paint the villa) potentially get it done before the May day bank holiday?

[ConfusedBuyer]

Another paint related question. When I went to view the villa, I noticed that a chunk of plaster was flaking away from the wall near the front door (inside the property). The agent said this was a common occurrence in the Algarve, and is just the paint reacting with the plaster. Does this sound right, or is this the start of a serious damp problem? I took a picture that I can e-mail if anyone needs to see the damaged wall.

[sunman]

hello Confused, welcome to Carvoeiro,

your thread is beginning to ring some alarm bells for me so without meaning to pee on your greens & dull any excitement re your purchase I'd like to comment on a couple of things;

- there are dozens of properties for sale in the Carvoeiro area, asking price isn't always the actual for sale price, so if you have a budget limit it's worth looking a places outside that limit & trying a bid, something might just fall from a tree.

- painting a villa can indeed be a job every 5 years but many last much longer than that; my own villa is 30 years old & has had 3 repaints & still looks very good, there are lots like that, black mould is not ubiquitous.

- dark looking fungus is to do with damp and shade as you know, not many people I know have had that problem, is the villa in shade of big buildings or trees? you'll be getting more rain before the spring so this black stuff will get worse before Easter; & it will come back each year unless you sort the shade issue out.

- chunks of plaster flaking away? we'll hear from others but I've never heard of it as a paint on plaster issue; paint, & plaster comes away nearly all the time for one reason, damp. maybe ask the agent to take you round other properties to show all the flaking walls he talks about?
it is true that most properties are built for the sun rather than the rain & do suffer with the humidity in the winter but everything's relative, you'll find loads around with very few, if any problems.

if it were me (and I fully appreciate that it's not) I'd be taking my money off the table; most tales that start off like yours become long stories of one disaster after another, you end up spending all your time, and lots of your money attending to problems, rather than lying round the pool with a Superbock in your hand.

and sorry to waffle on, but there's no rush to buy for the foreseeable future; so I'd suggest making more visits, look round the area & familiarise yourself with the little communities, work out walks & drives to supermarkets/ beaches/ restaurants/ find where the dogs bark/ where the rat runs are; all the usual stuff, Carvoeiro covers a big area and is quite diverse.

I know folk like to get a property under their belt & get started so it's all understandable, but I wouldn't want to be starting out with black mould & peeling plaster, there's much better out there.....

best of luck,