While there are many recently erected buildings, both residential and commercial, in Central London, there are many which are much older. The variety of old and new buildings and architecture is part of what gives Central London decorators its unique beauty and attraction. We have buildings that were built several centuries ago sitting side by side with twentieth-century and contemporary structures. Each period’s building presents its special challenges in terms of maintenance and repainting. David Banks Painting and Decorating has experience in repairing and painting buildings dating from the seventeenth century to the present day. We were commissioned to repaint the exterior of what is thought to be the oldest remaining private house in Kensington. It dates back to 1674.
We cater for all sorts of exterior maintenance, repair and repainting of buildings, from the smallest mews house to large apartment and office buildings. We work to a surveyor's or architect's specifications or we will draw up our own in consultation with the customer directly. With external redecoration, the primary objective is to preserve and protect the fabric of the building. This involves taking care of the roof, the rainwater system- gutters, hoppers, downspouts and drains- the walls, whether unpainted or painted and the woodwork.
Walls are usually constructed of brick, stone or rendered finish over stone or blockwork. Brick walls are subject to deterioration over time resulting in failed pointing and spalled bricks. We repair these, replacing defective pointing and cutting out damaged bricks or re-surfacing them with colour-matched render. Damaged stonework can be re-formed with stone-based compounds before re-painting. Wood suffers from deterioration in the form of wet rot when it has been open to rainwater over a long period. Such wood needs to be removed and the windows and doors repaired with either newly pieced-in wood sections or the damaged section rebuilt using chemical bonding wood repair compounds and fillers. Where the damage is too extensive the whole door or window or frame may need to be replaced with new.
