The quality of an interior paint job is decided before the paint is opened: protecting floors and fittings, removing loose material, filling and sanding defects, dealing with stains and texture, priming new or patched surfaces and checking the wall under raking light. Strong coastal light makes poor preparation obvious. A good quote describes the preparation room by room, not just the number of rooms to be painted.
Why does preparation take longer than painting?
Applying paint to a wall that is ready for it is relatively quick. Getting the wall ready is not. Every hole, crack, flake and patch must be dealt with, every edge and corner must be straight, and the surface must absorb evenly so the colour looks uniform. In older properties, which describes much of the housing stock on the Costa del Sol, walls carry decades of repairs and layers of paint, sometimes over gotelé.
That is why a professional painter spends most of the time on a job before the first coat. When comparing quotes, a very low figure for a large area often means that preparation has been reduced to a quick fill and nothing more. The result may look fine on handover day and less fine the first time the evening sun lights the wall sideways.
What does protection involve?
Floors are covered edge to edge with sheeting that stays put, not with loose dust sheets that slide around. Skirting, frames, windows, radiators and built-in furniture are masked. Socket covers and switch plates are removed so that the paint runs cleanly behind them, with power safely isolated where needed. Light fittings are taken down or wrapped.
Furniture that cannot leave the room is moved to the centre and covered. In apartment buildings, protection continues into the communal areas used to bring in materials. Under the Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, owners inform the community’s representative before altering elements or installations of their flat; for purely decorative work this may not strictly apply, but letting the administrator know the dates is good practice in any case.
How are cracks, holes and old repairs dealt with?
Hairline cracks are opened slightly so the filler has something to grip, then filled and sanded flush. Holes from old fixings are cleared and filled. Previous repairs that stand proud of the surface are sanded back, and those that have shrunk are filled again. Corners damaged by years of knocks are rebuilt, sometimes with a corner bead.
Cracks that reopen after repair usually reflect movement in the building or a problem behind the wall. Painting over them repeatedly is not a solution; if we see signs of structural movement or damp, we say so and suggest you consult a technician before decorating.
What about stains, damp patches and mould?
Water stains, smoke marks and some old marks bleed through ordinary paint, sometimes after it has dried. They need sealing with a suitable stain-blocking primer before the finish coat. Mould on walls must be cleaned off properly and, more importantly, its cause identified: condensation from poor ventilation, a leak, or damp from outside.
A painter can treat the surface; only fixing the cause stops it coming back. In coastal homes closed for part of the year, condensation in bedrooms and bathrooms is common, and improving ventilation often does more than any paint. Bathroom ventilation problems are covered by our sister site reformabanosmalaga.eu.
When does a wall need more than filling?
Filling deals with individual defects. When the whole wall is a patchwork of repairs, when it carries gotelé, or when it is noticeably wavy, filling one spot after another will never give an even result. The answer is to skim the whole surface so it becomes uniform. Our wall skimming service is designed for exactly this.
A good painter will tell you when filling is not enough rather than charging for endless patching. If a contractor proposes painting directly over gotelé and you want flat walls, ask them to explain how the texture will be dealt with first.
Why is primer important?
New filler, fresh plaster, patched areas and bare surfaces absorb paint differently from previously painted areas. Without primer, the finish coat dries unevenly, leaving patches that look duller or shinier than the rest, especially under raking light. Primer seals the surface so that the finish coat behaves the same everywhere.
Primer is also needed when changing from a dark colour to a light one, or when painting over a glossy surface, so that the new paint grips and covers properly. Which primer is used depends on the surface; we choose it according to the wall rather than by habit.
Skipping primer is one of the most common ways to save time on a quote, and one of the hardest to spot on handover day. The patchiness it causes often appears only when the room is seen in different light over the following weeks, by which time the painter has moved on.
How do you check a wall before painting?
The best test is a strong lamp held close to the wall so the light grazes across it. Ridges, hollows, sanding marks and missed holes show up immediately. This is how a wall will look on a sunny afternoon when the light comes in low through the terrace doors, so it is the right standard to work to.
Ask any painter how they check the wall before the final coat. For the service itself, see our interior painting page, and for the experiences of other owners, our article on what people regret about repainting. Whether minor interior works need a declaración responsable with the town hall depends on the scope and the municipality (to be verified case by case under Andalusia’s LISTA law).
Official sources
- Ley de Propiedad Horizontal, art. 7.1 (consolidated text hosted by the Ayuntamiento de Madrid)
- Ley 7/2021 (LISTA), art. 138.1.a, as cited in a municipal declaración responsable form for minor works (Vera)
Bauman Raymond Attila · Quitar Gotelé Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
