Dean paints doors, skirtings, architraves, sash windows and staircase woodwork in Abington, 1.6 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. Much of the joinery here is original to Victorian terraces or early-1900s park-side houses, so the work is mostly about dealing with many decades of old paint before a new finish goes on.
Joinery that has outlived several owners
Estate-agent listings for streets such as Ashburnham Road, Palmerston Road and Harold Street often mention houses that still have their original features. In practice that means four- or six-panel doors, skirtings well over the height of a modern board, moulded architraves and box sash windows. Most of it is softwood that has been painted again and again since the houses were built, and the profile of the mouldings slowly disappears under the build-up. A door that sticks on its frame, or a skirting whose bead has turned into a soft lump, is usually suffering from paint thickness rather than damage to the timber.
Our main door and skirting painting page covers the standard sequence of degreasing, keying, filling and knotting. In Abington the bigger question comes earlier: whether to paint over what is there, or take some of it off first.
Old paint layers and lead
Paint applied to houses of this age before the 1960s commonly contained lead, and the lower layers on an original door or skirting may still do so. Dry sanding that stack, or burning it off with a heat gun at high temperature, releases dust or fumes you do not want in a family home. Before we touch heavily layered woodwork we test it. If lead is present we use wet abrading, low-temperature stripping and careful bagging of waste, and we keep the room sealed off while the work is going on.
- Sound but thick paint: keyed, filled and recoated, which keeps the cost down.
- Flaking, crazed or alligatored gloss: taken back to a firm edge, sometimes to bare timber on the worst areas.
- Doors that bind: the edges are stripped and eased before painting, not simply recoated.
Sashes, front doors and the conservation area
The early-20th-century houses looking onto Abington Park, on parts of Christchurch Road, Park Avenue South, Abington Park Crescent and Wellingborough Road, sit inside the Abington Park Conservation Area, designated in 2006. The Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record describes these houses as unusually consistent in quality for their date. Repainting a front door or window frames in a like-for-like colour is ordinary maintenance. A change that alters how the frontage reads, such as a bold new colour across all the exterior joinery, is worth checking with West Northamptonshire Council first, and we will say so before quoting.
Inside, sash windows need their own care. We paint the meeting rails and staff beads without gluing the sashes shut, keep paint off the cords and leave the windows working at the end of each day.
Listed cottages and almshouses
A handful of buildings in the district are listed, among them Archway Cottages on Wellingborough Road, The Cottage on Christchurch Road and the 1846 former almshouses at 1-4 Abington Cottages on Abington Avenue, which have leaded casements. Joinery on listed buildings may need listed building consent if the work changes its appearance or removes historic fabric, and traditional paints are usually the right choice. If you own one of these, we will ask what the council has agreed before planning anything beyond a straight repaint.
Finish and sheen for period woodwork
| Where | Usual finish | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Skirtings in a terrace hallway | Water-based satin or eggshell | Takes knocks from bikes and bags, stays white |
| Internal panelled doors | Satin or traditional gloss | Satin softens brush marks on old panels |
| Box sashes | Microporous or linseed-based paint outside | Lets old timber breathe |
| Park-side front doors | Oil gloss | Depth of colour, suits the period |
Dean prices doors and skirtings either as part of a decorated room or as a woodwork-only job. For general cost factors see the painter and decorator cost guide, and for everything else we cover locally, our Abington area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
