Paint Stripping in Newton Abbot

The Moore & Franks approach in Newton Abbot

In Newton Abbot the problem is damp, not salt. Tucked in the bottom of the Teign valley, walls stay wet for days, and that moisture pushes up behind masonry paint until it blisters and peels — you see it on the rendered semis through Milber and Buckland and on the older painted terraces near Courtenay Street and the station. Once paint fails like that, it has to come off before anything new goes on. Moore & Franks strip old and blown paint with DOFF superheated steam, softening and lifting it at low pressure so tired render and joinery come back sound. Family-run, twenty-five years in, fully insured, half an hour from our Topsham base.

The rendered semis around Milber and Buckland are the bread and butter of our Newton Abbot paint work. A lot were coated years ago in masonry paint that has since blistered and lifted, because the Teign valley keeps the walls damp and that moisture pushes up behind the film with nowhere to go. Painting over blown paint like that just seals the problem in. DOFF superheated steam softens the failed coating and lifts it at low pressure, taking the elevation back to sound render ready for a fresh, breathable finish that will actually last on a damp wall rather than fail again by the next winter.

Closer to the centre, the Victorian terraces near Courtenay Street and the old station carry original render and a century of layered paint on joinery and rendered fronts. Damp from shared valley gutters and the low-lying ground keeps these walls wet, so the paint fails deep rather than just on the surface. Where the coating is a modern plastic masonry paint that won't steam off cleanly, we soften it first with a poultice or chemical stripper, then lift the residue. Older lime-based paint and gloss come off more readily with steam alone — we match the method to what is actually on the wall.

We are straight about scope here. Newton Abbot's damp means paint fails often, but not every wall needs the whole coating taken off — if it is sound and only flaking in patches, a full strip is overkill and we will say so. When it really has blown, though, stripping back to a sound surface first is what stops the next coat failing the same way. Tucked in the bottom of the valley, these walls dry slowly, so getting the prep right matters more here than on higher, brighter ground. The site visit and written quote are free.

Our Newton Abbot customers are typically within 30 minutes of our Exeter base. We cover the wider TQ12 postcode area and the surrounding villages (Wolborough, Highweek, Milber, Kingsteignton, Decoy Country Park, Bradley Manor).