House and Villa Painters in Kathu

Kathu is the one zone in this part of the island without a beach

Kathu sits in the centre of the island, enclosed by the hills that divide the valley from Patong to the west and from Phuket Town to the east. Wichit Songkram Road links Kathu with town. Phra Phuket Kaew Road leads to the climb over Patong hill and to the bypass road junction. Phuket people know Kathu as the old tin-mining district, with its mining museum, Kathu waterfall and Kathu Shrine, where the island's Vegetarian Festival tradition began. Several former mine pits are now lakes, and the land around them has become golf courses and housing.

For painters in Kathu the geography matters, because the valley poses the reverse of the problem seen in coastal zones within our house painting service areas across Phuket province. Homes here barely meet salt air. Rain and humidity are what they get instead.

What paint problems does the damp of the Kathu valley cause?

The surrounding hills hold rain cloud over the valley. In the monsoon, rain is frequent and heavy. After it stops the air stays moist, and there is less breeze than by the sea. A house at the foot of the hills, beside a lake or under big trees dries slowly. The symptoms on Kathu homes are these.

Surface preparation makes up a large part of a painting job in Kathu, and is quoted as a separate item based on the actual state of the walls. The principle is explained on the surface preparation costs page.

Estate houses, townhouses and golf-course homes in Kathu

Kathu houses many people who work in Patong or in Phuket Town, because the valley lies midway between the two. The residential buildings come in several tiers.

1. Townhouses and semi-detached homes in housing estates, in the lanes off Phra Phuket Kaew Road and Wichit Songkram Road. The houses stand close together with little space at the front.
2. Detached houses and villas around the golf courses. These are larger, with gardens and sometimes a pool, inside developments that have a juristic office and rules on outward appearance.
3. Mid-rise condos spread along the main roads, occupied by owners and long-term tenants alike.
4. Older homes of the original community in Ban Kathu near the shrine, where part-timber houses and early shophouses remain.

The job Kathu owners request most is a fresh interior, both in homes they live in and in homes being readied for rent. A stuffy, damp room is better served by a washable, moisture-tolerant interior paint, applied at a time when the windows can stay open for ventilation. Details are under interior painting for houses and condos.

Roofs in Kathu stain quickly. Is roof painting worthwhile?

More rain and less direct sun than in open country give Kathu tile roofs black marks and algae sooner than roofs on the coastal flats. From a rise or from the hill road, the roofs of an entire estate are visible, so a stained roof strongly affects how a house looks. Repainting the roof makes the house look new without replacing tiles, as long as the tiles are uncracked and the roof frame is sound.

Roof work in Kathu calls for careful choice of days, since valley rain can arrive fast even after a clear morning. The painters usually place roof jobs in the dry season and take one roof slope at a time, so each coat dries before the next shower. The steps and points to know are under roof painting and roof stain removal. As for a roof that lets water through, Phuket Pro Painters does not take on leak repair; a roofer has to put that right first.

How do travel and estate rules in Kathu affect the work?

The floor of the Kathu valley is level, and a delivery vehicle can drive straight to most houses. The limits lie elsewhere.

• Phra Phuket Kaew Road is the main route to Patong. Traffic is heavy in the morning and evening, and queues grow long whenever there is an accident on Patong hill.
• Estates with a juristic office fix contractors' working hours and require registration at the guard post.
• Townhouse lanes are narrow with cars parked outside each home, which restricts where scaffolding can stand.
• Houses that climb the lower hillsides have steep driveways, and the downhill wall is taller than the front.

Business premises in Kathu

The main roads of Kathu are lined with shop buildings, warehouses, showrooms, schools and offices. Such clients generally need painting that finishes on schedule without interrupting opening hours. Our approach is described under painting for office and commercial buildings.

Booking a painter to visit a home in Kathu

Contact 063-004-0115 or WhatsApp. Painters with more than 10 years of experience will come to measure the house and check for damp staining at no charge, and a written quotation is issued before anything begins. For painting an entire home, read about our complete house painting service.

Over the hill to the west is a district of hotels and tall buildings; see painting work in Patong. Further north are a beach village and hill villas; see villa painters in Kamala.