We paint internal and external doors, skirtings, architraves, frames and painted lintels in Creaton, which is 7.8 miles up the A5199 from Northampton town centre. Older joinery round The Green and High Street usually suits oil-based or linseed systems, while post-1950 houses take modern water-based trim paints.
Two kinds of joinery in one small village
Creaton’s woodwork splits neatly along the line of its history. The conservation area round The Green and High Street is mostly 17th to 19th century ironstone, cob and orange/red brick, and its joinery matches: solid panelled and plank timber doors, the classical surrounds framing doors at The Manse and at 6 Welford Road, casement windows, a few Georgian and Victorian sashes, and timber lintels painted black or white over the openings. Outside that core, the houses built along Brixworth Road after 1950, then The Jetty, Court House Close and the low 1980s row on Home Farm Close, have the flush or moulded doors and machined skirtings you would find in most modern homes.
The two groups need different paint, different preparation and a different amount of time per door, so we price and plan them separately even when they are on the same job list.
Plank doors, panelled doors and the village’s painted lintels
On a ledged plank door the paint has to follow every joint and bead, and old layers are often thick enough to round off the detail. Before deciding what to strip, we test whether the existing coating is oil-based or a later acrylic, because putting one over the other is a common reason older Creaton doors peel. Where the earlier paint is sound, a key, spot primer and traditional oil-based or linseed coats suit this joinery and move with the timber.
The black or white lintels deserve a mention of their own. They are a feature the conservation appraisal notes across the village, and because they sit over openings on walls that face east and north off the ridge, they take a lot of weather. Re-coating them with an exterior oil or alkyd system before the bare wood shows keeps the timber sound. The appraisal expects painted window frames in the conservation area to be white or to follow the original colour, which we check before any joinery colour is chosen.
Protecting brick and stone next to the woodwork
Several High Street buildings, including The Manse, the United Reformed Church and Woodbine Cottage, along with 8 The Green, have polychrome chequered brickwork that the guidance says must not be painted. A door surround or frame set into that brick means close masking and a steady cutting-in line, so not a drop lands on the masonry. Bare ironstone round cottage doorways gets the same care. On listed buildings such as the Manor House, 10 and 12 The Green, Morningside Cottage and Dial House, a change of finish may need listed building consent, so we work like-for-like unless the owner has confirmed otherwise.
Modern interiors: what changes off Brixworth Road
- Skirtings and architraves: usually softwood or MDF in a factory primer or old gloss, keyed and refinished in a hard-wearing water-based satin or eggshell that resists yellowing.
- Internal doors: flush or moulded panel doors, often painted in place with the ironmongery taken off rather than masked.
- Highfield Park: the 13 houses converted from the former Creaton Hospital in the early 1980s are treated house by house, since joinery in a conversion can vary.
The trade detail on filling, caulking and sanding between coats is on our main door, skirting and woodwork painting page, so this page sticks to what is particular to Creaton.
Getting to the door in the first place
High Street terraces sit right on the street with small plots and little off-road parking, so exterior door work there means planning where the van goes and keeping the pavement clear while a door is wet. Front doors on narrow lanes may need a sign or barrier while paint dries. For a wider look at painting older and newer homes here, see our Creaton area page, and for typical cost factors read the painter and decorator cost guide.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
