Painting fascia, soffit and gutterings

[sweetheart]

I am in a full swing argument with my OH about the cost of painting fascia and guttering. I decided against plastic when my quotes were around 3K + up as high as 4K

Dont worry I wont drag you into my husbands argument but for a Bungalow 60 ft long, 25 ft wide and has four sides ..... plus an out building which is 10ft long and 7 ft wide again four sides. Plus 3 doors and 5 window sills painted to match doors

Cast iron guttering and wooden fascias and doors.

How much do you reckon for a professional painter?

Thanks.

[ss]

I dont know about cost but plastic is generally a one off, painting to be repeated every few years.

[Andrew]

badly (cheaply) done plastic is worse than doing nothing. It traps water vapour and moisture between it and the underlying timber. A house near me was done cheaply 15 years ago. During the storms of early 2015, the wind ripped off the gable cladding because the underlying timber had rotted away. Now it will cost twice as much to repair, as it would have cost to do it properly in the first place. Anyone buying a house that has been UPVC'd needs to pay for a detailed survey, involving pushing back the tiles to take a look at what the UPVC is hiding.

At least painting every 8 years means someone gets up close and notices any impending problems.

The big problem with painting is that scaffolding costs a lot, and using a ladder is a problem now for those trademen who pay insurance to cover themselves against sickness and ill health.

Also, anywhere north of Manchester has a narrow window of decent weather, and anyone on the coast has wind-driven salt spray to contend with.

[Robin]

I'd hope the quotes of £3K~£4K involved removing the wood and fitting _structural_ uPVC rather than just cladding the wood (which I agree is a "bad thing"). If not they really do seem as you a rip-off.

[DerbyBorn]

Fitting plastic (structural) should be fasable for a joiner to do. At the moment there are a lot of "Plastic" specialists - I would perfer to use someone that knows about roofing.

[ARW]

Paint it yourself.

Dip your broomstick into a bucket of paint, fly around the house a couple of times and the job is done.

[sweetheart]

No, it was for cladding. I thought it was a rip off too especially since th e same firm charged my mother half that for her much larger bungalow.

Neither on a bungalow did we need scaffolding. I just thought it was way t oo high , hence I decided to get it all painted. Especially since it seemed that getting rid of the old guttering was going to cost me too - and besid es, when looked at, there was nothing wrong with the original fascia, soffi ts or guttering bar the peeling paint.

[sweetheart]

I would have preferred a bit better than that, besides, I really do not want to do it myself. Scaffolding is not required as it is a bungalow and c an be done from a fancy ladder with a plank /boarding across ( we have one as does the painter).

So, no advances on cost of painting then?

I have decided against plastic not just for the rip off price but because of the mess that would be left as they wouldnt take the cast iron stuff away and I have no means of removing it. I dont want to live in Steptoe's back yard, thanks.

[ARW]

Why not ask the painter with the fancy ladder?

[tabbypurr]

The sensible thing would be to keep the iron. And it's not difficult to have lumps of metal disappear. You'd be mad to choose wood over pvc, unless it's a very long lived durable species. Even more sensible would be diy.

NT

[sclerderabbey]

Thanks for all the replies. I have decided to get it all painted for the time being. I have another problem now - would appreciate advice ( see other post)