Wine cellars & storage facilities, Durbanville valley
A cellar is not an interior. It is a wet room with wine in it.
Cold surfaces, constant humidity, daily washdown, caustic and acid cleaning, condensation running down the ceiling, and a product in the room that picks up smell from the air. Standard interior paint fails inside two seasons, and the wrong coating is a risk to the wine itself.
- Based in Durbanville, working Durbanville, Aurora, Vierlanden, Eversdal, Welgemoed, Bellville, Brackenfell, Kraaifontein, Kuils River, Plattekloof, Sonstraal Heights, Panorama, Kenridge, Fisantekraal and surrounds
- WhatsApp us and we reply during office hours.
- Written scope, one fixed price for the job
Problem & approach
Where these projects go wrong, and how we handle them.
The usual problem
Cellar walls and ceilings take punishment nothing in a house comes close to. They are washed down with hot water, caustic and acid. They sit cold and damp for months, so condensation forms and stays. Barrel halls hold high humidity year round, which feeds mould in any coating that is not washable. Older Durbanville cellars are thick solid walls without a damp course, so moisture also moves through from outside and pushes off any film that will not let it out. On top of all of that sits the part most contractors never think about: wine takes up smell and taint from the air around it, so solvent-heavy coatings, slow curing products and strong odours during ferment or maturation are a genuine quality risk, not a nuisance. The usual result is a cellar repainted in ordinary PVA, peeling above the tanks by the next harvest, mouldy in the corners, and a cellar master who now has to work around a mess during the busiest weeks of the year.
Our approach
We survey the cellar with the cellar master before anything is priced, and write the specification down: which surfaces are washed and how, where condensation collects, where moisture is coming through the structure rather than off the tanks, and what the room is used for at every point in the year. Surfaces are then specified for what they actually endure. Washable, hygienic, low-odour water-based systems on cellar walls and ceilings. Breathable systems where old solid plaster has to keep releasing moisture. Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber quoted as its own line where water is entering the building rather than sitting on the surface, because painting the inside of a wall that is being fed from outside is money spent twice. Work is programmed around your calendar: not during ferment, not during bottling, ventilated properly, cured fully before the room goes back into use. One written scope, one fixed price for the whole job.
What may be included
Scope you can actually read.
The exact line items on your quote depend on the site inspection. This is the shape of what a typical project of this type includes.
- Cellar walk-through with the cellar master or production manager before pricing
- Moisture and condensation assessment, with the water path written down for each problem area
- A written specification per surface: preparation, primer, product, number of coats and sheen
- Washable, hygienic, low-odour water-based coating systems on cellar walls and ceilings
- Breathable specifications where old solid plaster must keep releasing moisture
- Removal of failed, mouldy and flaking coatings, plus fungicidal wash before priming
- Crack repair, plaster patching and joint sealing before any coating goes on
- Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber quoted separately where water is entering the structure
- Masking and protection of tanks, pumps, lines, barrels and floors
- A programme phased around harvest, ferment, bottling and tasting bookings
- Ventilation and cure time built into the programme, not squeezed out of it
- Handover pack with photographs, product data sheets and guarantee documentation
Products we work with
The Systems Behind the Work.
Approved applicator and authorised reseller of Rubber Sealant® Liquid Rubber.
Our preferred paint on most projects.
We are not a Plascon approved applicator. Plascon is simply the paint we choose to specify for its quality and track record, and we will recommend a different system where a project calls for it.
Our process
9 steps from enquiry to handover.
- 1
Enquiry from the owner, cellar master, production or maintenance manager
- 2
Cellar walk-through, including the wash regime and the annual calendar
- 3
Measure, photograph and identify moisture sources and failed coatings
- 4
Written specification per surface and one fixed price for the whole job
- 5
Dates agreed around harvest, ferment, bottling and functions
- 6
Protection of tanks, lines, barrels and floors before work starts
- 7
Strip back, fungicidal wash, repair, prime and coat to the written build
- 8
Full ventilation and cure before the space returns to production use
- 9
Walk-through, snag list closed, handover pack issued
Honest limits
What we will tell you up front.
A proper contractor should be honest about what a service can and cannot do. These are the things we will always flag.
- We quote cellar walls and ceilings, including tank rooms, barrel halls and corridors. We do not quote cellar floor coatings, floor screeds or trafficked epoxy floor systems, and we will say so rather than take the job on.
- We are not a food-safety or wine-taint testing authority. Where a coating has to be signed off as safe for use around wine, we specify a product whose manufacturer publishes that testing, and the manufacturer's documentation is what stands behind it.
- Waterproofing and damp proofing is Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber only. We do not sell or install torch-on, and we do not do injection damp courses.
- Coatings need cure time and ventilation. We will not compress a cure to hand a room back early, because a soft film in a washed-down room fails within the season.
- Structural repairs, tank work, stainless fabrication, drainage and electrical are separate trades. We identify them at survey rather than paint over them.
- Qualifying Rubber Sealant® systems may carry a 13-year manufacturer product guarantee, subject to manufacturer inspection, specification, application, certification and maintenance conditions.
Not sure what your wine cellar painting needs? Send us a photo.
Take one photo on your phone, send it on WhatsApp, and we will tell you what we are looking at. We are in Durbanville most weeks, so a site visit is easy to arrange.
WhatsApp a photoFAQ
Wine Cellar Painting: questions we hear
Budgeting
Want the numbers before you phone anyone?
We publish real Cape Town rates, including our own, and explain exactly what a cheaper quote leaves out.
Keep reading
The pages our Durbanville clients read before they phone us.
Start here
- Painters in DurbanvilleWhat we charge, how we scope it, and why the cheap quote was never cheaper.
- Commercial painting in DurbanvilleOffices, warehouses, complexes and shops, scoped in writing and painted around your trading hours.
Durbanville, service by service
- Roof waterproofing in Durbanville
- Damp proofing in Durbanville
- Exterior painting in Durbanville
- Interior painting in Durbanville
- Asbestos roofs explained in Durbanville
- Complex and body corporate repaints in Durbanville
Where we work
- Painters & waterproofing in DurbanvilleWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in AuroraWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in VierlandenWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in EversdalWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in WelgemoedWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in BellvilleWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in BrackenfellWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in KraaifonteinWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in Kuils RiverWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in PlattekloofWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in Sonstraal HeightsWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in PanoramaWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in KenridgeWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in FisantekraalWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
Complexes, commercial & managed buildings
- Body corporate & complex repaintingA scope trustees can compare, phased block by block.
- Commercial & retail paintingShops and offices painted after hours, never closed.
- Retail & shopping centre paintingMalls and shopfronts painted around trading hours.
- Office interior paintingOccupied offices repainted floor by floor, after hours.
- White boxing & make-good paintingGet a commercial unit lettable again, fast.
- Warehouse & industrial coatingRusted metal roofs sealed, hot workshops cooled.
- For property managers & agentsWritten scopes, fixed prices, photographs for the file.
- Painting maintenance programmesScheduled cycles for portfolios and property companies.
- Wine farm & estate paintingOld lime plaster, gables and cellars, handled properly.
Sectors we work in
- Wine cellar paintingWashdown, condensation and taint risk, specified properly.
- Schools, churches & clinicsProgrammed into holidays, services and quiet clinic days.
- Guest houses & restaurantsRoom by room, overnight, never a lost sitting.
- Dealerships & showroomsBrand colour standards, after hours, open in the morning.
- Self-storage, gyms & logisticsMetal roofs and big elevations, water and rust first.
- Planned maintenance cyclesBudget once, inspect yearly, never repaint in a panic.
Business parks & work at height
- Painting in Atlas GardensWarehouses and offices done around your trading hours.
- Painting in Durbanville HillsExposed, wind driven buildings need their own specification.
- Factory & industrial paintingWater first, then steel, then walls. In that order.
- Office park & multi-tenant repaintsFloor by floor, out of hours, nobody loses a day.
- Exterior crack & plaster repairWhy the crack came back, and how it is properly fixed.
- Working at heights paintingThe compliance to demand before anyone leaves the ground.
- Scaffolding & access paintingAccess is priced per erection. Plan around that and save.
- Painting tender checklistOne page, so three quotes describe the same job.
Specialist systems
- Rubber Sealant® Liquid RubberApproved applicator and reseller: prices, coverage, colours and guarantee terms.
- Buy liquid rubber in DurbanvilleThe same drums we use, collected by arrangement.
- Liquid rubber prices, per litre and per m²Every price published, with the coverage behind it.
- Asbestos roofs explainedSealing in place versus stripping, and who may do the work.
- Waterproofing & damp proofingLiquid rubber on roofs, walls and rising damp.
Durbanville and surrounds
Get a fixed price for your wine cellar painting.
Three ways to start, all of them quick. Send a WhatsApp, tap to call, or leave your details and we come back with a written scope and one fixed price for the whole job.
Monday–Friday 08:00–17:00
What happens after you send it
We reply, ask the few questions that matter, then book a proper look at the property. You get a written scope, one fixed price for the whole job, and a straight answer on what we will not do.
One-year workmanship guarantee on qualifying Williams & Co work.
Takes about 20 seconds