Outside paint in Tyrone and Fermanagh fails for dull reasons. The wall was still damp. The green film was painted over. Flaking paint was coated rather than scraped off. Or a product meant for a living room went onto render because it was the tin in the shed. The climate is wet, the Sperrins and the loughs keep surfaces damp, and a “dry day” in the forecast is not the same as a dry wall.
Martin paints exteriors when the surface is fit and the week will let the coat cure. This is what is worth knowing before you ask for that quote. It is not a product advertisement, and it does not name a brand he is tied to.
Do not paint a wet wall
Render, pebbledash and older solid walls take up rain and let it out slowly. If you seal a wet wall with a film that cannot breathe, the moisture stays behind the paint. The coat blisters, or the damp finds another way out indoors. A breathable masonry paint, sold for exterior render and pebbledash, is the usual specification for those walls. Emulsion from a kitchen or bedroom is not an outside paint, even if the colour is right.
A wall can feel cold and look dry while the core is still wet, especially on the north side, under trees, or on a gable facing Lower Lough Erne or the hills above Gortin and Newtownstewart. If it is wet to the touch, or an older stain is still active, the job waits. Painting it that afternoon does not make you further on.
Green walls need cleaning first
Algae and mould sit on shaded render all over the counties. Paint on top of them does not kill the growth. It comes through, or the new coat lets go. The sequence is wash, treat, let it dry, then paint. North-facing walls and anything under a dripping tree are the usual places. This is ordinary prep, and it belongs in the quote.
Scrape what is already failing
Flaking and chalking paint has lost its grip. A new coat sticks to the flake, and the flake is what falls off. Loose material comes off, bare patches are primed, and cracks are filled before the finish. If you can pull ribbons of old paint off with a scraper, that is the job, not a quick freshen-up.
Timber is a different problem
Fascias, soffits, bargeboards, sills and doors fail at the joints, where water sits. If the wood is soft under a knife, paint will not restore it. The rotten piece needs repaired or replaced first, or you will be painting it again next year. Martin will point that out. Replacing roof timber is not the decorating, and he will not pretend a coat of gloss is a repair.
Windows should be painted so the edges that meet the frame are covered, and they should not be painted shut. Open them while the work is done. It is a small thing and it is how sashes and modern casements end up stuck.
When he will not paint
- The wall is wet, or there is an active leak above it
- Frost is due on a fresh coat
- The surface is crumbling in handfuls rather than holding a coat
- The only available day is in the middle of a wet fortnight
Late spring to early autumn is the realistic season. Even then, a job moves if the weather turns. That is normal in Omagh, Enniskillen, Kesh and the glen. It is not a decorator being awkward.
Colour is the last decision
Very dark masonry on a sunny gable runs hotter and can fade sooner. In this climate the bigger risk is still moisture, not the sun. Choose a colour you can live with on a grey day, because that is most days. Look at it on the actual wall if you can, not only on a chart indoors.
Published UK price guides do include exterior averages. They are national figures with their own assumptions, and they are not a quote for your house. The cost article explains how to read them. For the work itself, see exterior painting, or ask Martin for a quote with the town, what needs painted, and whether it is peeling or only faded. Photos on WhatsApp are the fastest way to show a gable.