Interior painting in Morges

Are you looking for a painter for interior painting in Morges? Whether you live in a building near the quays, a house on the heights above the town or a flat in the old town, painting work depends heavily on the building and on what its walls conceal. This page summarises what you need to know to repaint a home in Morges and to compare quotes methodically.

The most common interior painting jobs in Morges

A painter’s trade is not limited to running a roller over a wall. It covers preparing surfaces, plastering, hanging wallpaper, painting walls, ceilings and woodwork, and treating surface damp. The reference qualification is the CFC (Swiss federal vocational certificate) for painters.

In Morges, demand falls into several fairly distinct situations:

• freshening up a flat before a sale or a new letting;
• repainting after other work (tiling, window replacement, light masonry);
• renovating a damp room, where preparation matters more than the colour;
• hanging or stripping wallpaper in an older home;
• painting stairwells and shared areas in co-owned buildings.

In practice, painting often comes last. If you are also planning work next door, coordinate the dates: a wall repainted before a mason or a window fitter comes through will have to be redone.

Old buildings on the Grand-Rue and older housing stock: what the walls may hold

Morges is a town on La Côte on the shore of Lake Geneva, with its castle, its old town laid out along the Grand-Rue and its quays. This townscape mixes older buildings, more recent ones and detached houses. For a painter, the difference between these types of building is considerable.

In an older building in the centre, the walls have often received several generations of paint, roughcast and wallpaper. Surfaces can be uneven, and ceilings marked by time. More preparation is then needed: stripping, filling, a smoothing coat, a suitable undercoat. It is this stage, more than the finishing coat, that determines how long the result lasts.

One safety point deserves to be raised from the outset. In a building from before 1990, old coatings may contain asbestos or lead. A survey must be carried out before sanding or scraping. If you know your home dates from that period, say so at the first contact: the company will adapt its method, and the quote will take it into account.

Lakeside, surface damp and ventilation

The shore of Lake Geneva has a fairly mild climate, which does not protect walls from damp. In a kitchen, a bathroom or a ground floor close to a cellar, paint can blister, blacken or flake. Treating surface damp is part of the trade: cleaning, treating the surface, letting it dry, then applying a suitable coating.

Be careful, though, about the nature of the problem. Paint that is deteriorating may be a symptom of water ingress or poor ventilation. Repainting without looking for the cause solves nothing. If the cause is structural, the building will have to be dealt with first, for example by a tradesperson from masonry in Morges, before the finishes are redone.

Procedures, landlord and co-ownership

Repainting the inside of a home does not generally require a building permit. In the canton of Vaud, the building permit is issued by the municipality of the commune, with the file going through the cantonal authorisations centre (CAMAC) when cantonal departments need to give an opinion. This mainly concerns major alterations. If your project goes beyond painting, or if the building is protected, check with the municipality of Morges or the relevant cantonal department before placing an order.

The facades of the old town call for particular care: exterior colours there are sometimes set by the municipality. For interior painting, this affects you little, except for woodwork, shutters or elements visible from the street. Check with the municipality.

Depending on your status, other consents are needed:

• Tenant: ask the landlord or managing agent for consent before changing colours or hanging wallpaper, and keep it in writing.
• Owner in a co-ownership: the inside of your unit is generally yours to decide, but shared areas (stairwell, hall) fall under the co-ownership.
• House owner: you decide, subject to the rules that apply to the building.

End of lease and normal wear and tear

If you are leaving a rented home, restoring it follows the rules on normal wear and tear. The ordinary ageing of paintwork is not your responsibility, unlike damage that goes beyond that wear. Before ordering any work, compare the move-in inspection report, the contract and the actual condition of the walls, and talk to the managing agent.

Preparing your request and comparing painting quotes

A good quote starts with a good description. Before contacting anyone, gather:

1. the list of rooms and, if you know them, their surface areas;
2. the condition of the surfaces: cracks, signs of damp, old wallpaper, flaking paint;
3. the construction date of the building, for the question of asbestos and lead;
4. your status (owner, tenant, co-owner) and the consent obtained;
5. access constraints: floor, lift, parking, occupied or empty home;
6. the result you want: matt or satin finish, colours, ceilings included or not.

When comparing, check that each quote details the same things: preparation of surfaces, number of coats, type of products, protection of floors and furniture, cleaning and waste removal. Two offers are comparable only if they cover the same scope.

The cost varies with the surface area, the condition of the walls, the preparation time, the ceiling height, the choice of products, any wallpaper to be removed and whether the home is occupied. No reliable figure can be given without a visit: the quote sets the price. To start the process, you can request a quote describing your project; the request is passed on to tradespeople and companies in the region, who will contact you to draw up a free, no-obligation quote.

Useful pages for your project in Morges

• The trade in general: interior painting
• The town: works in Morges
• The canton: canton of Vaud
• Other work in Morges: tiling in Morges, masonry in Morges, windows and double glazing in Morges