DH Painter & Decorator paints house exteriors across Far Cotton, the NN4 suburb on the south bank of the Nene, roughly 0.9 miles south of Northampton town centre. Dean prepares walls, woodwork and metalwork to suit each type of house here, from alley-backed terraces to riverside estate homes, and gives a free quote after a look at the property.
Three kinds of house, three different outside jobs
Far Cotton grew up after the railway arrived in 1845, and the houses still split along those lines. The older streets, such as Penrhyn Road, Euston Road, Clinton Road and Abbey Road, are lined with terraces. The main roads, Towcester Road and Gloucester Avenue among them, carry semi-detached houses. Along the river and on old brownfield land sit the 2000s estates of Riverside Wharf, Cotton End and Southbridge, with newer cul-de-sacs such as Harvester Way and Leah Bank nearby.
Each needs a different plan. On a terrace, the front is a narrow strip of wall, a door, a sash or casement and a sill, and it reads as part of a whole row. A semi on Towcester Road has a much larger front elevation facing a busy through route, so cleaning takes up a bigger share of the job. The riverside estates are now around 15 to 25 years old. On many of them the paint the builder applied is coming up for its first full redecoration, and that stage often shows up thin coverage and bare edges that were never properly primed.
Living beside the Nene and the canal
Far Cotton is low-lying ground, with the Nene and the Northampton arm of the Grand Union Canal along its northern edge. The community council flags parts of the area as at risk of flooding, and the river came over its banks on Good Friday 1998. For outside painting, that history matters in three ways:
- Timing. Waterside walls and woodwork dry more slowly after rain and on misty mornings, so the working day often starts later and coats are spaced further apart. Our exterior painting timing guide explains why spring and early autumn suit these homes.
- Moisture checks. Plinths, low walls and door bottoms that have ever stood in water get a moisture reading before anything is applied.
- Product choice. Breathable masonry paint and microporous timber coatings let trapped damp escape instead of blistering the new finish.
Railway-side homes on the western edge, near the Network Rail depot, pick up a fine dark film on sills and walls. That film comes off with a wash-down before any prep starts, or the new paint ends up stuck to dirt instead of the surface.
Getting round the back of an alley-backed terrace
Many terraces here back onto rear alleys that the community council gates as part of its alley key scheme. When the back of the house is in the quote (the rear wall, back bedroom window, yard wall or outbuilding door), we arrange the key or a neighbour’s help first. Without it, ladders and dust sheets are carried in through the front door instead, which is possible but slower and needs more protection indoors. We sort this out at the quoting stage rather than on the morning of the job.
Picking colours with no conservation area
Outside Delapre Park’s boundary, no planning rule dictates your front door, window or wall colour here. Inside the Delapre Park conservation area across the eastern edge it is a different matter, so houses right next to the abbey parkland are worth checking against that line. Within a terrace row, a colour that sits well with the neighbours usually looks better from the street than one that fights them, but the choice is yours.
Our main exterior painting service page covers the surface-by-surface method in full. For everything else we do in this part of town, see the Far Cotton area page. We come over the river from our Northampton base, under a mile from the town centre.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
