DH Painter & Decorator paints the outside of houses in Delapre, the interwar district on the west side of London Road about 0.9 miles south of Northampton town centre. Dean handles the brick terraces and semis on roads such as Delapre Crescent Road, Forest Road and Eastfield Road, plus the London Road frontage opposite the abbey park. Quotes are free.
An interwar estate that sits just outside the conservation area
Most of Delapre was laid out in the 1930s on farmland west of London Road, looking across at the parkland of Delapre Abbey. The houses are terraces and semis with solid brick walls and pitched roofs, and energy certificates show nearly all of them are now fully double glazed. That last point shapes exterior work here more than anything else: with uPVC windows in place, the painted surfaces on a typical Delapre house are the front door, the porch, the fascias and soffits, gates and any rendered panels, rather than rows of timber sashes.
The Delapre Park Conservation Area, created on 9 July 2007, stops at London Road. Its appraisal deliberately leaves the interwar housing on the west side out, so there are no conservation controls on the colour of your front door or porch. You can choose freely. Many owners still lean towards colours that sit quietly against red brick and the green view over the park, and Dean is happy to talk that through on site before you commit.
Which parts of a Delapre house usually need painting
| Where | Typical build | Usual exterior work |
|---|---|---|
| Delapre Crescent Road, Forest Road, Eastfield Road | 1930s solid-brick terraces, many mid-terrace | Front door, porch timber, roofline boards, front gate |
| Forest Road, Eastfield Road, Queen Eleanor Road (some houses) | Solid brick with external wall insulation | Insulated render coating plus the same joinery |
| London Road frontage (NN4 8AP) | Interwar semis of roughly 100-120 square metres | Larger roofline runs, porches, gates, traffic grime |
| Penrhyn Road | Cavity-wall terraces | Brick or pebbledash faces, checked house by house |
Where a house has a rendered or insulated front, that part of the job has its own considerations, covered by our render and masonry painting service. For the general method we follow on any house, see the main exterior painting service, and for everything else we do locally, the Delapre area page.
Painting opposite the park: trees, traffic and the trunk road
The semis on London Road face a boundary lined with mature trees, and the A508 runs between them and the park. Two things follow. First, paint on these houses gets dirty faster: exhaust film settles on doors, sills and white fascias, and leaves, sap and seed drop from the trees on the park edge. Washing down properly before any coat goes on is not optional here, because paint laid over that greasy film does not bond well. Second, setting up ladders or a tower on a frontage next to fast-moving traffic needs planning. We keep equipment inside the front boundary wherever possible and choose the order of work so nothing overhangs the pavement longer than it has to.
Shade is the other effect of the tree cover. North-facing and shaded faces stay damp for longer after rain, so we leave more drying time between washing and painting and watch the dew point on cool mornings. Spring and early autumn can be awkward on a shaded plot, and our seasonal exterior painting timing guide sets out why.
Solid walls mean outside faults show up inside
A 1930s solid brick wall has no cavity to stop water, so a leaking gutter, a failed joint in the pointing or a split sill shows up as a damp stain on the plaster indoors, often in a bedroom. If you are planning both inside and outside work, it makes sense to sort the outside first. We point out failed pointing or dripping gutters when we survey, so they can be repaired before anything is painted. Lower-lying houses towards the Nene flood plain can also carry salts in their walls, which is worth knowing before redecorating rooms inside.
Mid-terrace houses on Delapre Crescent Road, Forest Road and Eastfield Road have no side passage to the back garden. Rear fascias and back doors can still be painted, but ladders and materials come through the house, so we sheet the hallway and agree the route with you on the day.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
