Painting New Zealand

Two quick on-site tests (a light sand and a solvent rag) that tell you whether the old clear coat on your timber walls, ceilings or joinery is oil or water based.

Faint dark lines tracing the framing on your ceiling, or shadowy stripes up a cold wall? That's ghosting - a build-up of fine soot on the coldest points of the surface. Here's the physics behind it, how to tell it apart from mould, and the prep that actually keeps it gone.

A straight-talking guide to painting your own interior in New Zealand. Covers prep, primer, paint choice, technique, and the common mistakes that cost Kiwi DIYers thousands every year.

A working painter's honest checklist for when interior paint has reached the end of its life. Seven telltale signs your walls are due for a refresh — from yellowing ceilings to ghosting paint and patchy sheen.

A Wanaka painter's honest guide to the best time of year for an interior repaint in Central Otago. How humidity, temperature, dust and holiday-home schedules should dictate your timing — and why autumn and winter are usually the sweet spot.

A painter's step-by-step guide to patching plasterboard properly. No special tools, no trade secrets — just the technique that makes repairs invisible.