Heritage & weatherboard painting across Hobart.

Lead paint — the thing most quotes ignore.

The vast majority of Australian homes built before 1970 contain lead paint, often at high concentrations — lead in paint was only limited to 1% by 1970. Plenty of Hobart’s heritage stock sits well before that line. Lead is a serious health hazard, especially for children, and the dust created by sanding or power-stripping old paint is how people get exposed. Under AS 4361.2 (the guide to lead-paint management) the safe approach is to assume the paint on a pre-1997 home is leaded and handle it accordingly.

How we work lead-safe (AS 4361.2).

• No dry sanding or dry power-stripping that throws lead dust into the air, soil and your home.
• Containment and drop sheets to capture debris — not swept into the garden where kids and pets play.
• Dust capture where surfaces genuinely need abrading, using methods that don’t spread lead.
• Careful collection and disposal of paint waste to the proper requirements.
• Trained painters — lead work is done by people who understand lead-paint management, not just whoever is cheapest.

Done properly, an old painted surface can be made sound and safely overcoated without exposing your family or our crew. We can arrange dust-wipe or paint testing first if you want it confirmed.

Conservation-sensitive technique.

Old timber, fretwork, fascia, decorative trim and original window joinery need patience and the right finishes — not a quick spray and run. We prepare carefully, repair and re-putty where needed, prime bare timber, and use finishes suited to heritage substrates so the work looks right and lasts. The goal is to keep a period home looking like a period home.

Heritage precincts and approvals.

A like-for-like repaint in the existing colours usually doesn’t need approval. But if your property sits in a City of Hobart heritage precinct or is listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register, a change of colour or scheme can trigger a planning requirement, and works on a listed place may be referred to the Heritage Council. New Town, Battery Point and parts of Sandy Bay have heritage-sensitive areas. We’ll flag whether your job is straightforward or whether you should check with City of Hobart planning before we start, and keep any work sympathetic to the property’s significance.

Weatherboard — heavy on preparation.

Heritage weatherboard is almost all preparation: scraping failed coatings (lead-safe), filling and re-puttying, treating or replacing rotten boards, and priming bare timber before any topcoat. In Hobart’s damp climate, around seven of ten days on a weatherboard repaint go on prep. It’s why we never quote a heritage exterior on a quick wash-and-two-coats basis — that fails fast and, on a lead home, fails dangerously.

Period-correct colour.

We can paint to an appropriate heritage scheme — the right body, trim and highlight colours for Federation, Georgian or weatherboard homes — and talk through options at the quote if you want a hand choosing. Done well, the right scheme lifts the whole street.

See also exterior house painting and interior house painting — we look after heritage homes right across Greater Hobart.