Painters in Sydney’s Inner West: Old Houses, Honest Advice
The Inner West has some of the best housing stock in Sydney and some of the trickiest to paint properly. A crew that only ever paints new render will make a mess of a hundred year old terrace — and they usually will not realise it until the owner does.
Get a Free Quote →📞 1300 658 818📍 Newtown, Marrickville, Enmore, Leichhardt, Annandale, Balmain, Rozelle, Petersham, Dulwich Hill, Ashfield, Summer Hill, Haberfield, Five Dock, Drummoyne and Canada Bay.
The Lead Paint Conversation Nobody Wants to Have
If your house was built before 1970, it very likely has lead based paint somewhere in it. If it was built before the 1950s, it almost certainly does. In the Inner West that describes a very large proportion of the housing stock.
It is about removal, not presence
Lead paint sitting undisturbed under later coatings is generally not the problem. The problem is created when someone dry sands it, power sands it, scrapes it or blasts it — which turns it into fine dust that settles in your ceiling cavity, your garden soil, your neighbour’s yard and, if you have small children, in exactly the place you least want it.
AS/NZS 4361.2
The Australian standard covering lead paint in residential and commercial buildings sets out how this should be managed: containing the work area, wet sanding or appropriate extraction rather than dry power sanding, keeping the debris contained, and disposing of it properly.
It takes longer and it costs more, and any painter who tells you otherwise on a Federation terrace is either not looking or hoping you will not ask.
Sometimes encapsulation is the answer
We will tell you if we think you have lead paint. We will also tell you when the sensible answer is to encapsulate it rather than strip it, which is often the right call and is far less disruptive than people expect.
Two Ways of Preparing an Old Terrace
| Standard prep | Lead safe prep | |
|---|---|---|
| When it applies | Homes built after 1970, or surfaces with no lead paint present | Any pre 1970 home where existing coatings will be disturbed |
| Sanding method | Conventional dry sanding | Wet sanding, or sanding with dust extraction |
| Containment | Ordinary drop sheets and masking | Sealed work area, contained debris, controlled access |
| Waste | General site waste | Contained and disposed of appropriately |
| Time and cost | Baseline | Longer and more expensive, and non negotiable if lead is present |
Terraces, Semis and the Things That Go Wrong
Old Inner West houses share a set of familiar problems, and being upfront about them is more useful than pretending your house is the exception.
Rising damp and salt attack
Older brick, no damp course or a failed one, and you get bubbling paint, powdery render and salt bloom in the bottom half metre of the wall. Painting over it is pointless, and putting a plastic film coating over it can actually make it worse by trapping moisture in the wall.
If we see it, we will say so — and we will tell you if the honest answer is that you need a builder before you need a painter.
Rendered facades and parapets
Parapet walls take weather from both sides and crack constantly. Filling them with the wrong product means they simply crack again along the same line by the following winter. Flexible fillers and the right sealing at the joint make the difference.
Original joinery and cast iron
Cedar sashes, timber front doors, iron lacework and balustrades are the character you are paying to keep. They need careful preparation, and where timber has gone soft, the section needs replacing rather than filling. It is more work up front and it is the difference between a restoration and a cover up.
Heritage conservation areas
Large parts of Balmain, Annandale, Haberfield, Glebe and Newtown sit within conservation areas. External colour schemes on contributory buildings can be subject to council controls. We will raise it if we think it applies so you can check with council rather than discover it later.
The Modern Half of the Inner West
Not everything here is a hundred years old. Canada Bay, Five Dock, Rhodes and Drummoyne have a lot of newer townhouses, duplexes and apartments, and the work on these is a completely different discipline. Straight lines, large uninterrupted wall areas, high ceilings and voids, and a finish standard where every imperfection shows because there is no decorative detail to hide behind.
We did the full interior package on a run of new build townhouses in Canada Bay, and the office suites, corridors and feature walls at Domremy Catholic College in Five Dock.
See Our Work →New Build Painting- ✓ Builders and developers — we work to handover standard
- ✓ Large uninterrupted wall areas where every imperfection shows
- ✓ High ceilings and voids with the right access planned in
- ✓ Townhouses, duplexes and apartments across Canada Bay and Five Dock
- ✓ Commercial and education fit outs to the same standard
How the Job Runs
We come to you first. There is no realistic way to price an old terrace from an address and a photograph, because everything that matters is in the condition of the surfaces.
On site we assess what is there, identify anything that needs a repair rather than a coating, flag anything that might be lead, and talk through what you want the finished result to look like. You get a written quote setting out the scope, the products, the number of coats and what is and is not included.
We work to AS/NZS 2311, the Australian standard that guides the painting of buildings, and to the manufacturer’s specification for the system we are using.
Book Your Free Assessment →- ✓ 1. Protect the space
- ✓ 2. Wash and treat the surfaces
- ✓ 3. Repair and fill
- ✓ 4. Sand, using the right method for the substrate
- ✓ 5. Prime or seal where needed — more often on old houses than new
- ✓ 6. Topcoats, then a walkthrough, touch ups on the spot, clean site
Timeframes and What Affects Your Quote
Interiors
A single room is usually a day or two. A full interior repaint of a three bedroom terrace is often around a week — though narrow terraces with a lot of joinery, picture rails, ornate cornices and skirtings take longer than the floor area suggests, because the time is in the detail rather than the square metres.
Exteriors are the variable one
A terrace facade in sound condition can move quickly. The same facade with failed render, a rusting balustrade and a lead paint requirement is a different project. This is why we will not give you a date over the phone — we give you a realistic working window once we have seen it.
What affects your quote
Condition first, then size, access, height, the extent of repair, the product system, the number of coats, whether lead safe practices are required, and how much of the job has to be worked around you living there.
Inner West access is its own line item. Terraces with no rear lane, no side access and a shared party wall mean everything comes through the front door or over a scaffold — a real cost a responsible painter will price rather than discover.
Licensed, Insured, Accountable
In NSW, residential building work over $5,000 must be carried out by a licensed contractor, and work over $20,000 requires Home Building Compensation cover. You can and should verify any painter’s licence through NSW Fair Trading before you commit.
We do not quote a price for a house type. We quote your house, after we have looked at it.
- ✓ NSW licensed contractor, verifiable through NSW Fair Trading
- ✓ Public liability and workers compensation cover
- ✓ HIA and Master Painters Association members
- ✓ Statutory warranties apply to our work
- ✓ Australian Consumer Law guarantees, plus our own workmanship warranty
Suburbs & Pockets We Cover
We paint terraces, semis, cottages, warehouse conversions, townhouses and apartments right across the Inner West. If your suburb is not listed, get in touch and we will confirm straight away.
Newtown & South
- Newtown & Enmore
- Marrickville & Dulwich Hill
- Petersham & Lewisham
- Stanmore & St Peters
- Sydenham & Tempe
Leichhardt & Annandale
- Leichhardt & Lilyfield
- Annandale & Camperdown
- Glebe & Forest Lodge
- Rozelle & Balmain
- Birchgrove & Balmain East
Ashfield & West
- Ashfield & Summer Hill
- Haberfield & Croydon
- Burwood & Strathfield
- Croydon Park & Ashbury
- Hurlstone Park & Canterbury
Canada Bay & Waterside
- Five Dock & Russell Lea
- Drummoyne & Rodd Point
- Abbotsford & Chiswick
- Concord & Cabarita
- Rhodes & Wareemba
Every Service, Every Suburb
Wherever you are across the Inner West, you get the same full range of services — residential, new build, commercial, strata, industrial and education.
Book a free Inner West quote
If you have an old house that needs someone who will treat it properly, or a new one that needs a finish worth the build, we would like to come and have a look. We will assess the surfaces on site, give you a straight opinion, and put a clear written price in your hands.
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The services we offer in this area, nearby suburbs we cover, and guides worth reading before you book.