We paint house exteriors in Great Houghton, NN4, a hilltop village about 2.7 miles south-east of Northampton town centre. In the conservation area the work is mostly the timber windows, doors and joinery on stone houses, while the estate homes further south take a fuller exterior repaint.
On the old stone houses, the paint goes on the joinery
Great Houghton’s historic core, north of the former Bedford railway cutting, is a village of coursed rubble, limestone with ironstone bands, and ironstone ashlar. Those walls were built to be seen, and on most of them there is nothing to paint. What does need regular attention is the timber set into them: flush casements under wooden lintels like those at 20 and 22 The Green, the sash windows and pedimented dormers of Great Houghton House, panelled front doors, porches and barge boards. Exterior painting on a High Street, Willow Lane or Cherry Tree Lane house is mostly joinery work.
Neighbourhood Plan policy GHNDP2 expects original windows and doors in the conservation area to be kept. That makes the order of work repair first, paint second: rake out failed putty, cut out soft timber at sill ends and the bottoms of rails, splice in new wood where needed, then prime and build up the coats. Leaded, stone-mullioned casements are cut in by hand with the glass masked, never sprayed, because overspray on old lead and stone will not come off cleanly.
Consent comes before colour on listed buildings
The parish has 17 list entries, among them The Manor House on Willow Lane, Great Houghton House, The Old Rectory, both old inns and several cottages on The Green and The Cross. Changing the external colour or finish on any of these normally needs listed building consent, so if you own one and want a different door or window colour, the first step is a check with West Northamptonshire Council. Repainting in the existing colour is a different matter, and we can talk that through when Dean comes to look.
The thatched Manor House is a reminder that some old buildings need fire-safe working. Near thatch we strip paint by scraping and sanding only, with no heat guns and no flame.
A hill that wears paint unevenly
The village climbs from about 200 ft at the Bedford Road to 326 ft at the top and forms part of the skyline seen from the town. Wind-driven rain hits the south and west faces hardest, so on many houses here one elevation needs doing well before the others. Rather than repaint the whole house on one timetable, we can concentrate on the worn sides and keep the sheltered faces on a longer cycle.
The conservation area also has many groups of mature trees. They keep some walls and window frames in shade and damp for long spells, and drop sap and leaves onto sills. Those frames get a mould wash and must be properly dry before any primer goes on, which rules out the cold, damp months. Our guide to the timing exterior painting in the UK explains the temperature and dew limits.
Homes south of the cutting
The 1960s and 1970s houses, the 1980s estate that stops at Leys Lane and the later closes such as Rectory Close and Lime Farm Way are a different brief. There are no listing rules to work around, so the job can cover fascias, soffits, front doors, garage doors, any rendered panels and garden timber in one visit, using whatever colours you prefer. Our main exterior painting service page sets out how each surface is prepared.
Ladders, vans and a narrow High Street
High Street is a rat run between Newport Pagnell Road and Bedford Road, it carries HGVs, and parked cars already squeeze it. At The Cross there are no footpaths at all. Before work starts we agree where the van can stand without blocking the road, where ladders can go so people walking past are not forced into traffic, and how the work area is coned off. For houses set behind stone boundary walls, ladder feet are padded so the copings are not chipped.
We cover the whole of Great Houghton from our Northampton base. See our page on painting and decorating in Great Houghton for other work in the village.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
