Exterior house painting in Den Bosch & Noord-Brabant

Most Dutch homes built before the year 2000 have softwood window frames, doors, dormers and fascias. Between the rain, the freeze-thaw cycles and the UV exposure on a south-facing facade, the paint film is the only thing standing between that timber and moisture. Once the film chalks, cracks or flakes, water gets in and wood rot follows within a couple of winters. That is why Dutch painters talk about a 5 to 7 year maintenance cycle, and why a well-kept house rarely needs anything more drastic.

If you have recently bought a house, there is a fair chance the previous owner skipped a cycle. The signs are easy to spot once you know them: a chalky powder when you rub the paint, hairline cracks along the joints, flaking at the bottom rail of the frame, grey timber showing through, and putty or sealant that has shrunk away from the glass.

Kivits Vastgoedonderhoud is a registered Dutch painting and property maintenance company (KVK 94153965) based in 's-Hertogenbosch. Founder Leroy Kivits and his team communicate comfortably in English, so expats and international homeowners get the same clear advice, written quote and 5-year warranty as our Dutch clients.

Window frames, front and back doors, garage doors, fascia boards and bargeboards, dormer windows, timber cladding, garden rooms, pergolas and fences. Any RAL colour is possible. For listed houses in the centre of Den Bosch or Breda we check the municipal colour rules for you before we start.

We work exclusively with professional paint systems from Sikkens, Sigma and Dulux. Whether an alkyd or a water-based system is the better choice depends on the substrate, the exposure of the facade and what is already on the timber; we make that call per element rather than using one product for everything. Premium paint costs a little more per litre and pays for itself in a longer maintenance interval.

A good exterior paint job is mostly preparation. During the free inspection we probe every frame for soft spots, because painting over hidden wood rot is a waste of your money. Where we find it, the affected timber is cut back and rebuilt with a two-component epoxy system before any paint goes on. You can read exactly how that works on our wood rot repair page.

Then comes the sequence that determines how long the result lasts: washing and degreasing, sanding back loose paint, renewing sealant and putty, spot-priming bare timber and finally two or three topcoats. Crisp masking gives clean lines against brickwork and glass. Skip a step and the paint starts lifting within two years; we do not skip steps.

Exterior paint cures best between roughly 8 and 25 °C on a dry, overcast day. We measure the surface temperature and the dew point on site and do not apply paint when the timber is within a few degrees of the dew point, because condensation under a fresh coat ruins adhesion. Spring and early autumn are the classic seasons, but modern water-based systems let us work through most of the year with a bit of planning.

A typical terraced or semi-detached house takes 3 to 5 working days. We work Monday to Friday between 07:30 and 17:30, keep you informed by message or email, and leave the site tidy every evening.

Send us a message and we will visit for a free inspection in Den Bosch, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda or anywhere else in Noord-Brabant, without a travel surcharge. Within 48 hours you receive an itemised written quote, in English if you prefer. At completion you get a warranty certificate covering materials and workmanship for 5 years. Request your free quote or read the Dutch version of this page: Buitenschilderwerk.