Dean paints internal and external doors, skirtings, architraves and timber windows in Flore, a village about 6.7 miles west of Northampton town centre. Much of the joinery in the historic core is timber that the conservation area appraisal expects to be kept and repaired, so careful preparation and the right colour matter more here than speed.
What the Flore appraisal says about doors and windows
Daventry District Council designated the Flore Conservation Area in May 2018 and adopted an appraisal and management plan the following month. That document is unusually specific about joinery. It describes the village’s doors as timber, either six-panel Georgian or four-panel Victorian, painted in traditional muted colours. On windows it wants any replacement made in timber (or metal for casements) and finished white or in a colour taken from the original frames, with uPVC generally ruled out. Article 4 Directions on doors, windows and porches were floated as something to explore, but we have found no confirmed direction in force.
The practical result is that owners on Sutton Street, The Green, Chapel Street and the High Street are encouraged to look after the timber they have. That makes repainting a maintenance job with real value: a well-kept six-over-six sash or a four-panel front door is part of what the appraisal is trying to protect.
Front doors that open straight onto the lane
Most houses in the historic core sit one plot deep with the front elevation facing directly onto the road, and pavements on the lanes are rare and narrow. On The Green there are none at all. A front door there is painted with traffic and pedestrians a step away, so we plan the work in short stages: strip and prepare one morning, prime and undercoat once it is dry, then lay off the top coat when the lane is quiet and the door can stand propped open long enough to cure. We keep the doorway passable throughout and fit a temporary barrier if the gloss is still tacky when we leave.
For colour, we steer towards muted greens, greys and off-blacks that sit well against orange-brown ironstone and Flemish bond red brick. If your house is one of the roughly 45 listed entries in the parish, a change from the existing colour may need listed building consent, and we will raise that before any paint is opened.
Sashes, casements and white paint on old timber
White is the expected colour for windows across the core, from the Georgian six-over-six sashes to Victorian two-over-two frames and cottage casements. White on old softwood shows every flaw, so preparation takes most of the time:
- Flaking paint on cills and bottom rails taken back to firm timber and treated before priming.
- Failed putty raked out and renewed on the worst panes.
- Meeting rails and staff beads painted without sealing the sash shut.
- A paint suited to old timber, such as a microporous or linseed-based system, rather than a hard modern gloss that cracks as the frame moves.
Shaded elevations under Flore’s mature trees and orchards stay damp for longer, which is exactly where we tend to find soft cills. We check moisture before painting rather than sealing wet wood in.
Inside: farmhouse joinery and plainer twentieth-century work
The yeoman farmhouses built between 1690 and 1720 are often only one room deep, and some have been divided into several dwellings, so the joinery can be a mix of original timber and later additions. Old layers of paint on that kind of woodwork may contain lead, and we test before sanding or heat-stripping anything heavily coated. Skirtings on lime-plastered walls rarely sit perfectly straight, so we cut in by hand rather than relying on long runs of tape.
Skirtings and doors in the Brockhall Road, Crescent and Collins Hill houses, and on the newer estates, carry no conservation constraint and are usually machined profiles in good order. A water-based satin or eggshell that resists yellowing is the normal choice there. The method for both types is set out on our main door, skirting and woodwork painting page, and the Flore area page maps where each building period sits.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
