neverpaintagain wall coatings ltd

House Painting Experiences: Spain Vs UK compared. The difficulties of painting a house in a hot country

Painting the exteriors of houses in Spain is very different from painting in the UK, as we found out a few years back.

We have been wielding our spray gun and applying our special wall coatings to homes and businesses since the mid 1980’s, but did you know we also used to work in Spain?

The owner of this site and the founders of NEVER PAINT AGAIN UK holidayed in Spain for many years before they invested in a holiday home near the city of Valencia.

Although we are UK-based, I have to say though, from time to time we do get involved in smaller projects in Spain and we thought it a nice idea if we explained how different painting a house is in Spain, in comparison to doing the same in the UK.

UPDATED:PLEASE NOTE WE NO LONGER OFFER SERVICE IN SPAIN

 

If at first glance you think “Ah ok, it never rains in Spain so……”…. WRONG!

And to have nice hot sunny weather, you would think that painting a house in Spain is an absolute doddle, but all is not as it seems and we explain why.

Let’s compare what it is like to paint a house in the UK and then to paint a house in Spain.

First off we we look at a property that an affiliate company we work with, painted on the Costa Blanca in eastern Spain, back in 2010.

1. Painting the outside of a house in England

We started painting houses in the UK way back in 1986. The internet wasn’t really around then so as you can see, we have moved on somewhat since then!

Our protective paints guard against bad weather, of which there is a lot as you probably know. One drawback of our profession is the weather itself though.

This job was adjacent to open moorland and man did it RAIN!

The house was quite large but the painting and repair works should only have taken around 5 days, but with the bad weather, it took two weeks!

Many a time the painting team turned up in the van, only to sit there listening to the radio and waiting for the skies to clear.

repairing-render-before-painting

There is a certain amount we can do when it rains, such as powerwashing and scraping the old paint off, but to actually apply the paint, well yes you’ve guessed it, we can;t do it in the rain, so we had to wait.

So in summary, although our special wall coatings are designed to repel wet weather and damp, the weather can actually be our worst enemy.

The actual construction of houses in the UK is very different than in Spain. In the UK most houses are made of bricks or blocks, with a covering of render or pebbledash.

Houses in Spain however are built to keep cool, and are based around a concrete shell, with a façade of bricks rather than load bearing exterior walls.

As a footnote, this was done in February and the average rainfall for Staffordshire during the 2nd month is a depressing 60mm of rain!

Our external wall paints protect your home from the UK rain, sleet and snow.

2. Painting the exterior of a villa in Spain.

Our reputation has spread far and wide over the years and during the last decade a lot of people moved to Spain, especially areas like the Costa del sol and the Costa Blanca, and of course many of these people were previous clients of ours back in the UK

We painted a lovely villa in Javea, complete with pool, outhouses, smashing views and of course gorgeous sunshine, way back in 2010.

In fact if you look at the photo below , you will see the date stamp of December 2010, but look at the sun!

A house in Javea, costa Blanca, being painted
A house in Javea, costa Blanca, being painted

So why did we do in December?

Well, many people in the UK have a false image of what life is like in Spain and thoughts immediately turn to lazing on the beach every day sipping cocktails, however nothing could be further from the truth I assure you!

People who come to Spain, unless they are very wealthy and/or retired, have to work and pay bills etc, just like back in the UK, and in the months where most of you come to Spain, such as July and August, it is just too hot to work, in fact many of the locals in Spain take the whole month of August off!

The rain in Spain did not (thankfully) fall on the plain this time!
The rain in Spain did not (thankfully) fall on the plain this time!

Compared to the Staffordshire job we first looked at, the average rainfall for Javea in December, when the job was done, is a surprising 45mn so you see it DOES rain in Spain!

We were lucky on the job and it did not rain once, but it goes to show you that working abroad is not as easy as you think and it is not sunshine and hot weather every day of the year.

Our external wall painting system not only helps us here in the UK, but in Spain, if this coating is on your home, it will not fade, crack, peel or flake off, and reflects the suns rays, making small savings on Air conditioning bills too!

In our job no two houses are ever the same but if you want a price to have yours done, instead of jotting down a rough estimate on the back of a cigarette packet like some people would, we do a full survey, which is totally free of charge, and then we present to you a fixed price quote in writing.

You can also find out what wall coatings are here

Painting contract work is available in the UK only (We no longer work in Spain and have updated this article), so if you want your home painted in the UK this year then send us an email here!

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