DH Painter & Decorator paints fascias, soffits, bargeboards and gutters in Creaton, a ridge village 7.8 miles north of Northampton. We work on both the timber eaves of slate-roofed cottages in the conservation area and the timber fascias on post-1950 houses. Every roofline job starts with a check for soft wood. Quotes are free.
Eaves 125 metres up
Creaton runs along the A5199 ridge, and the land drops away east towards open countryside. Because nothing breaks the wind on that side, rain is driven up under the eaves rather than falling clear of them. Fascias and the outer edge of soffits facing north and east take the worst of it. Gloss on those boards goes chalky, then cracks along the grain, and water gets in at the joints and at the ends of the boards. On a sheltered street the same paint might last noticeably longer.
So we treat the weather side as the priority. We probe the board ends and the lower edge with a bradawl, cut out and splice any soft timber before priming, and use an exterior oil or alkyd system that copes with the movement of old wood. Our main fascia and soffit painting page sets out the full step-by-step process.
Cottage rooflines in the conservation area
Many of the 17th to 19th century cottages and farmhouses round The Green and along High Street have Welsh slate roofs. Many of those roofs replaced thatch, so the eaves were often altered when the slate went on. On cottages of this age the detail can be a plain board, a shallow boxed soffit or no fascia at all, and we look at each one before pricing. On the brick buildings of High Street, such as The Manse and the chapel, the eaves are formed by decorative dentil brick courses. Those are brick and stay unpainted, so any gutter or board work above them is done with the brickwork masked off.
The three-storey former farmhouses, including Church House, Green Farm, Court House and Home Farm, have eaves well above normal ladder height. For these we usually need a tower, or scaffold if other work is happening on the roof. Where gutter brackets are old cast iron, we wire brush and prime them rather than painting over rust.
Post-war fascias on Brixworth Road and Court House Close
After 1950 the village spread along Brixworth Road, then into The Jetty and Court House Close. These houses mostly have timber fascias and soffits of standard section. Where they have had several coats, the paint on the exposed side can be thick and cracked. Where the build-up is heavy we scrape back to a firm edge and feather it, so the new coat does not show ridges. If boards have been replaced in uPVC we can clean and paint them with a suitable primer,
Trees, overhead lines and gutters
- Leaf fall: mature trees on The Green, some covered by Tree Preservation Orders, fill gutters each autumn. A blocked gutter overflows onto the fascia and soffit, so we clear and check outlets before painting.
- Overhead lines: cables strung from telegraph poles on High Street, on Violet Lane and down the south-west edge of The Green limit where a ladder can be leaned and extended. We plan ladder positions at the quote visit.
- Parking: on High Street the houses sit on the pavement edge and parking is scarce, so we arrange drop-off times and keep the ladder footprint tight.
Rooflines are often worth combining with a window and door repaint, which saves setting access up twice. The painter and decorator cost guide explains what affects the price, and the Creaton area page covers other work in the village.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
