Greetings from the world of property maintenance.
Property maintenance means we can paint your house and take care of all property maintenance issues including window and other woodwork repairs, guttering and general exterior plumbing repairs, brick re-pointing, parapet repairs, roof inspections and slipped or missing slates, concrete and stucco repairs, cables secured etc.
We also do INTERIOR PAINTING AND DECORATING and I employ an excellent paper hanger which I consider to be one of the more underrated skills in this field.
I hope this will prove another useful blog. I try to provide valuable data on how look after your home, office or whatever building you might be responsible for and even how to choose a painter which is the subject of an earlier blog.
Blogs I’ve posted on my website include:
Wet and Dry Rot
How to get your painting project started
How to choose a painter and decorator and what you should expect of one
Proper and permanent wood repairs.
How about I start with guttering. This could be a neglected area causing problems that might not come to light before considerable expense is incurred. For example water spilling onto brickwork and finding its way inside to manifest as a stain on your living room wallpaper.
So when it’s time to paint the exterior make sure you employ someone who has the experience and care to note any problems with guttering and other rainwater goods
Check all brackets and fixings securing the rainwater goods. UPVC brackets have a tendency to split at high level which then has a knock on effect eventually all the way down the pipe.
Do a water test to ensure there are no blockages.
Make sure the fall of the gutter is correct so that the water flows without ponding.
AND here is a simple and very useful thing to do:
Wait for a downpour and go outside with an umbrella and note any water spilling over gutters, overflowing hoppers or coming out of downpipes or flowing where it shouldn’t.
Getting away from external plumbing but staying with the problem of getting water to go where it should-how about taking a look at your window cills. The stone or concrete ones I’m talking about that develop cracks allowing water onto the brickwork. Also useful is to check the drip course beneath the cill that directs water along the underneath the cill and away from the wall. This should be free and still have some form and not clogged with paint and filler. Well on an old property with ancient cills a clear drip course might be a little too much to ask, but if you do have water ingress problems adjacent internally it is something to check.
Well there you go- a few things to do.
Or you could just call us and we’ll do it all and provide you with useful reports along the way.
We operate all over London from Putney, Wandsworth, Richmond, Sheen, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush but we are also happy to go to East, North and South London and have regular clients throughout the capital.
Here’s to a beautiful active summer.
Joe