We paint new plaster and extensions in Great Doddington, about 8.3 miles east of Northampton. Most of the work is either fresh gypsum in barn conversions and 20th-century homes, which needs a proper mist coat, or lime plaster repairs in the village's old stone cottages, which need a breathable finish instead.
Gypsum or lime: the question to settle first
New plaster in Great Doddington comes in two kinds, and they are not painted the same way. Modern gypsum skim, found in extensions, rewires and replastered rooms in the 20th-century ribbon houses and in the barn conversions, is painted with a thinned mist coat once dry. Lime plaster, used for repairs in the 16th- to 19th-century limestone cottages of the conservation area, cures slowly, stays slightly porous for good and should only get a breathable finish.
Getting this wrong is the most common way paint fails on old plaster. A vinyl emulsion rolled over fresh lime seals in moisture the wall needs to release, and within a season or two it blisters or peels. So before we quote, Dean looks at the colour, hardness and texture of the new work and asks the plasterer what went on. The general method for gypsum is set out on our main new plaster and extension painting page and in the mist coat guide.
Repairs in the listed cottages
Several cottages in the old core are listed, including examples on Doctors Lane, the High Street and Lower Street, and repairs inside them are often done in lime to match the original. Lime needs more drying time than gypsum: in a thick-walled stone cottage, a patch can take several weeks to cure, longer in cold or damp weather. We would rather come back when it is ready than paint early.
Once it has cured, the finish is limewash, a mineral silicate paint or a clay-based emulsion, depending on what is already on the surrounding walls. Patches rarely sit perfectly flush with old, undulating walls, and we feather the new finish into the old rather than trying to make the wall look machine-flat. Where the rest of the room is already in a modern emulsion, we discuss whether to strip back or to accept a compromise, as there is no single right answer for every room.
Barn conversions: big walls, new plaster against old fabric
The farm conversions at Top Farm, Glebe Farm and Grove Farm, and any further work in barns like them, produce large areas of new gypsum on tall walls, often meeting exposed beams, stone reveals or red brick. These are the jobs where the mist coat matters most, because a big expanse of fresh plaster shows every missed patch and every bit of flashing once the light falls across it from a wide barn opening.
| Surface | Where you find it in the village | First coat |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh gypsum skim | Barn conversions, extensions on ribbon houses and bungalows | Thinned contract matt mist coat once fully dry |
| New lime plaster | Repairs in the conservation-area cottages | Limewash or breathable mineral paint, after curing |
| Plasterboard with skim | Loft rooms and partitions in post-war homes | Mist coat, then standard emulsion |
Cutting in against beams and stone is done by brush, never sprayed or taped onto rough walling. Bare stone and brick inside the barns stay unpainted.
Extensions on the post-war houses
Most extension work is likely on the 20th-century side of the village, along the ribbon development, at St Nicholas Court and on the 1960s/70s bungalows at 44-54 High Street. These houses take modern systems, so the job is the familiar one: let the skim dry until the colour is even, mist coat, fill any hairline cracks, then two finish coats, plus priming and painting new skirtings, architraves and doors.
If your builder is still on site, we are happy to agree a start date around the plasterer’s finish so the drying time is built into the programme. You can read about the other work we cover in the village on the Great Doddington area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
