Exterior Painting and Decorating.
Exterior windows painting and decorating works. Height access.
In this article I will cover some of the things involved in painting exterior windows as done by professional Painters and Decorators at Painting In Dublin. Height access options and ways of implementing them. We have completed recently an exterior painting job for no. 16 Hume Street and no. 12 lower Pembroke Street, Dublin 2 and thought it would be a good example to reflect on.
There are a couple of ways to get to them for Painting and Decorating:
#1: Ladder
#2: Scaffolding
#3: Cherry picker
#4: Removal From inside
So let’s have a closer look at these options
#1: Ladder.
Ladders are the easiest and most accessible way of reaching the exterior windows of a house and is most common way applied by Painters and Decorators across the trade. It is cheap to hire and simple to operate. Although most Painters and Decorators will have a couple of ladders in their arsenal of tools, often the ones they have are not long enough and they have to hire ladders on a regular basis, especially if the building is more than 1 storey high. It has to be mentioned when working with a ladder that you need a second person at the bottom of the ladder to secure it while the painter works at the top of it. It also has its limitations when it comes to reaching sideways because it requires repositioning. Also because the Painter and Decorator has to hold the ladder as well, he can only work with one hand making the work progress slower. Hooks are required to hold the paint tins and if the job requires different tools such as scrapers and rollers it gets harder still to operate. Professional Painters and Decorators are well trained and can deliver the work even in restraining conditions like this.
#2: Scaffolding
Scaffolding is one of the best way of access of heights, It is the most secure way of Painting and Decorating any surface including Windows. Unlike ladders, once up a painter and decorator does not need a second person to Paint his window .The platforms have plenty of space to fit a lot of tools and there is no need to waste the time for going down the stairs to get a scraper or any other tool required by the Painters and Decorators. There are a few variety of scaffolds including a mobile tower that can be moved as soon as you painted one window to the next. One downside of scaffolding is the cost. It takes time to build scaffolds up and if your site does not allow for a mobile tower, because of uneven or unsuitable surface, then it could be costly to put up scaffolding all around your house where you have windows to be painted.
#3: Cherry picker
Cherry Picker is the best and most flexible way of access to heights by a mile compared to the rest of them. It is mobile and secure. Painters and Decorators are most efficient on a cherry picker because it gives them access to any surface from any angle they might need and the platform which can tilt and turn into any position required in order to achieve the best result has plenty of space to fit all tools that a Painter and Decorator needs. Because most cherry pickers are drivable it is very convenient for painters and Decorators to move it to the next Window for example, after they finished painting one. The use of a safety harness is required and a licence to operate the cherry picker. Cost is the main issue though. It comes expensive to hire and if the property you wish to decorate is on a public road you also need a permit to operate it from the local council which again will add to the cost. Sometimes though, it is the only way of accessing heights as there may not be enough time or indeed the area can be unsuitable for any other form of access like scaffolding. It has to be said that exterior Painting and Decorating is very fussy in our weather, especially in autumn when the sky bursts and it doesn’t stop raining for days…sounds familiar? Even so, this is the time when Painters and Decorators are required to paint the exterior of buildings the most during the year, because: “winter is on the way, we should paint our house!” This is where the cherry picker comes in, it requires no time to set up and Painters can start painting straight away… after they prep the surfaces of course…
#4: Removal From inside
Another common practice among Painters and Decorators when painting the exterior windows of a house is removing the windows and painting them off the frame on site. This option is probably the most cost efficient of all because it does not cost a thing as long as you know what you are doing. A lot of time this option is applied when the building is a commercial one because it is less practical in a home but the removal option does not limit itself on commercial properties only. A great advantage with this option is that once removed, the windows can be painted inside and the weather will not affect the work progress, which is loved by Painters and Decorators. The frame can be done by leaning out and painting it. A safety harness is vital just as with a cherry picker above. One the windows have been painted and dried, they can be re-fitted back on the frame. It is the discomfort of not having a window on overnight that is making this option less appealing to customers that want to paint the windows of their house.
So you can see from all mentioned above, there are a couple of ways to reach your windows when you need to do some painting and decorating work on them and each method is applied in a different case depending on individual circumstances of the job. After exploring these options you can decide on the preferred one and go ahead.

Petru Ciubeico
Painting in Dublin
www.paintingindublin.ie