PAINTERS SIMON'S TOWN

• Get a free quote with scaffolding on sloped sites costed up front
• Steel windows, balustrades and gates quoted as a proper rust system, not a coat of enamel over the problem
• We work the whole strip from Glencairn through to Millers Point, so travel is not padded into your price

What Painting Costs in Simon's Town

Two things set Simon's Town pricing apart. The first is gradient. A large share of the housing stock is built into the slope, which means a wall that is single-storey at the front is three storeys at the back. Scaffolding and edge protection on those elevations is a real cost and any quote that does not mention it has not been to the site.

The second is metal. Steel window frames, balustrades, staircases, gates and railings are everywhere in this town, and in this salt load they are the fastest-failing element on the building. Doing them properly costs more than painting the walls they sit in, and doing them badly means doing them again in eighteen months.

Steel that has pitted rather than surface-rusted may need cutting and welding before coating, which is a metalwork cost rather than a painting one. We flag it at survey instead of coating over it. Every figure above is a guide for budgeting. A measured quote after a site visit is what you should actually work from.

When to Paint in Simon's Town

October to April, with a strong preference for the shoulders. Simon's Town is more sheltered from the southeaster than the Atlantic side, but it gets the southwester coming straight up False Bay in autumn and spring, and that is the wind that carries wet salt onto a building.

There is a practical gradient issue too: on steep sites the working day is shorter because scaffolded elevations in shade stay cold and damp longer. On a south-facing back wall in October you may only have five usable hours, which affects how the job is scheduled and priced.

• October to November — good for north and east elevations. Steep south-facing back walls are still slow to dry.
• December to February — best for the shaded and sloped elevations that are unworkable earlier in the year. Sunny walls get done early morning.
• March to April — reliable, calm, ideal for metalwork, which needs a dry surface and stable temperature more than walls do.
• May to September — interiors and interior joinery. Exterior steel preparation can sometimes be done in a dry winter spell, but the coating should wait.
• Wind check — a fresh southwester off the bay carries salt spray inland well past the Main Road. Coating in it means coating salt onto the wall.

Which Paint to Use in Simon's Town

This is one of the harshest coastal exposures in Cape Town for metal, and the specification should reflect that. Wall paint choice matters, but the rust system is where a Simon's Town job is won or lost.

• Mild steel frames, rails and gates — mechanically remove rust to bare metal, then an epoxy mastic or zinc phosphate primer, then a polyurethane or high-build enamel topcoat. Rust converter over pitted steel is a patch, not a system.
• Galvanised steel — must have an etch or mordant-wash primer first. Enamel applied straight onto galvanising will sheet off in a year.
• Aluminium frames — degrease, etch prime, then a suitable topcoat. Do not use a standard wall primer.
• Plastered walls — premium 100% acrylic, Plascon Micatex or Dulux Weathershield grade. Where hairline cracking is present, a flexible bridging coat before the topcoats.
• Retaining and slope-side walls — check for water pushing through from behind before coating. A retaining wall with no drainage will blow any coating off from the inside.
• Interiors — standard low-sheen acrylic. Homes built into rock often have one permanently cool wall, which wants a mould-resistant product.

What We Find on Simon's Town Homes

What surveys in Simon's Town usually turn up:

• Steel window frames rusted through at the bottom corner, where water collects in the rebate. These need welding or replacement, not paint.
• Balustrade uprights rusted at the point where they enter the concrete, which is out of sight until it fails.
• Damp on the uphill wall of a slope-built house, coming from groundwater behind an undrained retaining structure.
• Coating failure on the bay-facing elevation only, three or four years ahead of the rest of the house.
• Galvanised gutters and downpipes painted without an etch primer, peeling in sheets.
• Efflorescence — white powdery deposit — on garage and basement walls cut into the slope.

Services We Cover in Simon's Town

• Interior painting
• Exterior painting
• Roof painting
• Waterproofing
• Damp proofing
• Plaster repairs

Simon's Town Painting Questions

Getting a home in Simon's Town painted? Contact Painters Fish Hoek for a free, itemised quote showing the preparation, the number of coats and the actual product going on your walls.

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