Looking after your paint in Hobart.
The exteriors that make it to year ten looking good are not the ones with the most expensive paint on them. They are the ones that get washed once a year. In this climate mould is what kills coatings - not sun, not rain, not cold. One afternoon a year is the difference between eight good years and four.
The annual spring wash.
Once a year, in early spring, wash the south and west elevations with a biocidal cleaner. That is the whole routine. Everything else on this page is secondary to it. It works because Hobart coatings fail biologically, not chemically. At 42 degrees south our south-facing walls get effectively no direct sun through midwinter, so they stay damp for months. Lichen puts root structures into the paint film and lifts it from the outside, and by the time you can see flaking, the adhesion has been going for two years.
Timing it for early spring is deliberate. You are killing the growth before it gets its season rather than cleaning up after it, and you are doing it when the wall has a chance to dry afterwards. Use a biocidal cleaner and give it its dwell time - the label will tell you, and it is usually longer than people's patience. The dwell is the part that actually works; the rinse is just removing what the chemistry already killed.
The rest of the routine is genuinely secondary, and it is three habits. Keep vegetation half a metre off the walls - a shrub against a south weatherboard holds moisture on it permanently and no coating survives that. Clear the gutters before winter, because an overflowing gutter puts water down a wall all season and turns a paint job into a carpentry job. And touch up nicks and chips before winter rather than after: a breach in the film going into June gives water four cold months to get into bare timber, whereas the same chip repaired in April is a five-minute job with the tin you kept.
The pressure washer traps.
A pressure washer is a useful tool and a common way to shorten the life of a Hobart paint job. Two mistakes account for nearly all the damage we get called to. Pressure as a substitute for chemistry: blasting lichen off removes what you can see and leaves the root structure, so it returns within a season, usually thicker, because you have also roughened the surface. Driving water in behind the boards: a narrow jet up under a weatherboard lap puts water into the cavity. On a Sydney house that dries by Thursday. Here in September it sits through a cold, damp month and returns as a moisture blister the following summer.
The method that works: wide fan tip, modest pressure, biocidal cleaner first with its dwell time, top to bottom, jet angled downward, never up under a lap. If the paint lifts under gentle washing it had already failed and the washer simply found it - worth knowing before you spend money on a topcoat over it. Our guide to paint failure warning signs in Hobart covers how to tell the difference.
The maintenance conditions in your warranty are real.
There are two warranties on a decent exterior job. The manufacturer system warranty - up to 10 years on a premium system - covers the coating. Our workmanship warranty covers the application. They are separate, and the manufacturer one carries maintenance conditions: periodic cleaning, and prompt attention to damage that breaches the film. That is not a get-out clause invented to avoid claims. A coating that has grown six years of lichen failed for a reason no manufacturer caused.
What maintenance is worth in dollars.
A single-storey weatherboard in New Town, exterior repainted in 2026 for 11,000 dollars, mid-band in the 8,500 to 14,500 dollar range for that job here.
Maintained. An annual biocidal wash by the owner at roughly 60 to 120 dollars a year - 480 to 960 dollars over eight years. The coating reaches year eight with the south elevation intact, and the next repaint is a wash, a sand and two coats at the same band. Not maintained. Lichen establishes on the south by year four and breaches adhesion by year six. Bare timber cycles wet and dry through years six to twelve. The year-twelve repaint needs lead swab testing at 280 to 480 dollars, controlled lead-safe removal at 45 to 95 dollars per square metre, and carpentry for the boards that have gone - realistically 18,000 to 26,000 dollars, and the 2026 paint gave you six good years instead of eight.
Common questions about paint maintenance in Hobart.
How do I look after a new exterior paint job in Hobart?
One task, once a year. Wash the south and west elevations with a biocidal cleaner in early spring, before the growing season gets going. That single habit does more for the life of a Hobart exterior than anything else, because mould and lichen are what kill coatings here, not sun. Everything else is secondary: keep vegetation half a metre off the walls, clear gutters before winter, and touch up nicks before winter rather than after.
Can I pressure wash my painted Hobart house?
Yes, but gently, and not as your only cleaning method. Blasting lichen off at high pressure removes the visible growth and leaves the root structure in the film, so it returns worse - you need a biocidal cleaner with dwell time to kill it. And enough pressure will drive water in behind weatherboards, which here means water sitting in a wall cavity through a cold winter. Use a wide fan tip, modest pressure, work downward, never up under a board lap.
Does skipping maintenance void my paint warranty?
It can void the manufacturer system warranty, which is the valuable half of the cover. Read the terms on any 10-year exterior system warranty and you will find maintenance conditions - periodic cleaning, and prompt attention to damage that breaches the film. That is not a trick clause: a coating left to grow lichen for six years failed for a reason the manufacturer did not cause. Do the annual wash and keep a dated photo or receipt.
How much should I budget each year to maintain a painted Hobart exterior?
About 60 to 120 dollars a year in cleaner and a Saturday if you do it yourself. A professional maintenance wash on a single-storey home typically runs 350 to 700 dollars depending on access and established growth. Either figure is trivial against what it protects. Deferring maintenance turns an 8,500 to 14,500 dollar repaint at year eight into something closer to 18,000 to 26,000 at year twelve once carpentry and lead-safe removal are in scope.
Should I keep leftover paint, and how long does it last?
Keep it, label it and store it properly, because a colour-matched touch-up in year three is worth far more than the paint in the tin. Write the room, product name, colour code and date on the lid in marker, not the label, which fades and peels. Store it somewhere that does not freeze - waterborne acrylic that has frozen is finished and you often cannot tell until you open it. Sealed and stored well, an unopened tin holds for years.
Maintenance washes across Greater Hobart.
Full regional detail on the Greater Hobart coverage page, or see what a full repaint involves on our exterior house painting page.
Protect the paint you already paid for.
An annual biocidal wash on the south and west is the cheapest thing you will ever do for your house. Book one, or ask us how to do it yourself properly.