How to protect brick when painting render above. (NDN)

[HidingUnderARock]

I have a semi-detached house with painted white render upstairs and red brick downstairs. Below that is a nice new brick drive.
This afternoon my NDN was out the front directing the guy who does his odd jobs, filling the cracks in the render on his side and a metre onto our side (as usual).
He said they would be painting it next and he knew it was onto our side but "at least its not doing any harm". I was fine with it as it is all white, and said ours needed done too and we'd probably do it next year. This is unusually honest for NDN who disrespects boundaries as standard.

Last week he put varnish sealant on his side of the brick drive, and a metre onto our side, with added footprints. It looks awful. Shiny and streaky. He looked angry and guilty when I went out to check the bins and found him doing it. I am not quick off the mark and didn't make a fuss.

Anyway. Thinking about it, I just know he's going to get white paint on our brick wall and brick drive, and I'd like to be ready with sheeting and tape etc to prevent that. I am not sure how that is going to stick and hold up on render and brick though. I'm also not particularly agile tbf.

I don't want to varnish our bricks. I'd like them to stay as they are.

Any advice welcome. Trusting the neighbour is not a credible option unfortunately.

Don't varnish the bricks, whatever you do. Bricks need to breathe, unless there is a good reason otherwise. I'd cover them with plastic sheeting, taping it to the bricks where it meets next door, and the render above. Same with your drive. That's what I'm doing when I'm painting ours. Might be worth leaning boards on the plastic, as wind can get under it and rip it off, and the rattling of the plastic can be noisy at night.

Painting render if it's textured or roughcast (ours is very textured old fashioned roughcast) is a splashy business. I'm careful and doing it by hand with a brush, and I reckon it still flicks paint a good metre sideways along the wall lower down from where I'm working, so give yourself a good margin. I generally cover a good metre or two beyond where I'm working.

Can’t you just go and knock his door and say on reflection you want the painting to stop at the border of your two houses. And obviously you assume his workers will take steps to protect surrounding areas from any damage from the paint.

It’s not your job to do this. It’s his responsibility to ensure his workers don’t make a mess.

you can get painters dustsheets in a thick cotton twill. i don't remember the size, but you can (just) get them in a domestic washing machine. Don't do this if they have been used by a plasterer unless your washer is very old and you know how to clean the filter. They dry on a washing line.

Outdoors, they will blow around if not well-weighted round the edges

you can also get disposable polythene painters sheeting on long rolls. I think they are somewhere around 2.4 metres wide usually. it is thin so will blow about terribly, and will tear easily.

www.screwfix.com/c/decorating/dust-sheets/cat850140?cm_sp=managedredirect--decorating--dustsheets

If you want to protect a wall, a good trick is to use tarpaulins (they are usually woven thick polypropylene) and to put vine hooks in the wall so you can hand it by the eyelets. it is fairly heavy and if the hooks are a good fit it will be held taut. You can leave the hooks in for the future. if you have a step ladder and an electric drill it is quite easy.

www.screwfix.com/c/tools/tarpaulin/cat8940029?cm_sp=managedredirect--handtools--tarpaulin

Ask around on Freegle and there is a good chance you can get some gazebo sidewalls for nothing. A lot of gazebos are sold cheap for garden use, and when the owner gets tired of them, or the frame breaks, they get thrown out or offered free. They are usually about 2 metres high with eyelets on at least one edge and ties on two.

There are self adhesive plastic sheets. www.diy.com/departments/goodhome-tape-drape-masking-film-l-20m/5059340015354_BQ.prd

[quote Gingernaut]There are self adhesive plastic sheets. www.diy.com/departments/goodhome-tape-drape-masking-film-l-20m/5059340015354_BQ.prd[/quote]
Wind gets under sheets very easily. I used masking tape, worked fine when I used good quality tape but not at all when I used cheap stuff.