We paint metal gates, railings and up-and-over garage doors in Boothville, NN3, roughly 3 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. In this district the most common metalwork is the door on a detached garage, so Dean focuses on stopping rust properly rather than painting over it.
Up-and-over garage doors come first here
Boothville has plenty of detached single garages beside bungalows and family houses, and listings keep describing the same door: a metal up-and-over. Across the district it is the piece of metalwork most homes have, and it ages in a predictable way. Rust starts along the bottom edge, where rain splashes back off the drive, and around the handle and lock where hands wear the coating. Left alone, it creeps up behind the paint in blisters.
A repaint that lasts goes like this:
- Wash the whole door, then degrease it.
- Take rust back to bright metal with wire brushes and abrasive pads, paying attention to the bottom rail.
- Spot-prime bare steel with a rust-inhibiting metal primer the same day, before it flashes over.
- Key the sound old paint so the new coats grip.
- Apply two finish coats made for metal, with the door part-raised so the bottom edge and lower return get covered.
We leave the springs and mechanism unpainted and keep paint out of the runners, so the door still moves freely.
Gates facing the main roads
Kettering Road runs along the south-west edge of Boothville and Lumbertubs Way along the east. Front gates and any railings on houses facing them pick up a film of exhaust and road dirt that you may not notice until you wipe a finger along the top rail. Paint will not bond properly over it. These pieces get a separate wash and rinse with a degreaser and are left to dry fully before we start with a wire brush.
Away from the main roads, in a quiet cul-de-sac like Bibury Crescent, metalwork is more likely to suffer from damp shade under garden trees than from grime.
Sun on steel
Boothville sits on raised, open ground, with Booth Rise recorded at about 104 metres on Northampton Sands, so a garage door facing south or west takes the full force of the sun. A steel door in full afternoon sun gets hot enough to make fresh paint skin over too quickly, trapping solvent and leaving blisters or brush marks. So we schedule a south or west-facing door for the cooler part of the day, often starting early and finishing the face before the sun swings round. Darker colours absorb more heat, which is worth knowing if you are choosing between anthracite and a lighter grey.
Colour, sheen and leasehold rules
As no conservation area covers Boothville, there is no requirement to keep gates or garage doors in a particular colour on a freehold property. Many people match the garage door to the front door or fascias; others go for a darker shade that hides scuffs at the bottom. Satin hides small dents in a steel door better than full gloss, which shows every ripple. If you live in a leasehold maisonette, check with the freeholder before changing the colour of anything shared.
Booking the work
Most Boothville homes have a driveway, so we can work on the garage door without blocking the road. You will need to keep the car out of the garage for a day or two while the coats harden. For typical costs, see our guide to painter and decorator costs. The detail on primers, direct-to-metal paints and rust treatment is on the main metal gate and railing painting page, and other services in the district are on our Boothville page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
