DH Painter & Decorator paints the inside of homes in Great Houghton, the hilltop village in NN4 about 2.7 miles south-east of Northampton town centre. Dean matches the paint and preparation to the house: breathable systems on old lime plaster in the conservation area, hard-wearing emulsions in the estate homes south of the railway cutting.
Two kinds of house either side of the railway cutting
Great Houghton sits on a spur of high ground 2.7 miles south-east of Northampton town centre, climbing from the A428 Bedford Road to about 326 ft. The deep cutting of the former Northampton to Bedford railway runs through the middle of it, and for interior painting that line is a handy way to think about the houses. North of it lies the conservation area: 17th-century stone cottages, farmhouses and larger houses around High Street, The Green, The Cross, Willow Lane and Cherry Tree Lane. South of it are the 1960s and 1970s houses, the 1980s estate that stops at Leys Lane, and later closes such as Rectory Close and Lime Farm Way.
The two halves seldom need the same paint, the same preparation or the same pace of work. We cover the whole parish from our Northampton base, and Dean quotes each house on what he finds when he visits rather than on a standard room rate.
Old stone houses in the core: walls that have to breathe
Inside a 17th-century stone house the walls are often lime plaster laid onto coursed rubble. Lime lets moisture travel through the wall and escape. Put a vinyl emulsion over it and that moisture gets trapped behind the film, which then blisters, flakes or leaves a tide mark along the bottom of the wall. In these rooms we use breathable emulsions or mineral paints, and we test what is already on the surface first, because old houses often carry layers of mixed coatings from different decades.
The surfaces are rarely flat. Walls bow, corners wander and ceilings dip between beams. We don’t try to make a 1670s room look like new plasterboard. Cracks are filled with lime-compatible fillers, and cutting-in follows the true line of the wall, since a ruler-straight edge on a curved wall only shows up the curve.
Many of these houses are listed. The parish has 17 list entries, among them The Manor House on Willow Lane, Great Houghton House on High Street and 20 and 22 The Green. Listing covers interiors too, so if the plan involves stripping historic finishes, painting old panelling or altering joinery, a conversation with the council’s conservation officer should come before our quote.
Estate homes from the 1960s onward
The houses south of the cutting and the newer groups on the east side are plasterboard and gypsum plaster, and they take ordinary decorating well. That makes a single room, a whole-house repaint, a ceiling marked by an old leak or yellowed woodwork a fairly predictable job. Infill houses and recent extensions may have bare plaster that needs a diluted first coat; our guide to painting new plaster explains why.
Here washable and scrubbable emulsions are worth having in kitchens, halls and children’s bedrooms. The walls are sound and nothing needs to breathe the way old stone does, so durability can lead the choice.
Working around High Street and The Cross
Access shapes an interior job in the core more than people expect. The old High Street carries through traffic and lorries on a road that was never built for them, and kerbside parking narrows it further. Round The Cross, people walk in the carriageway because there is no pavement. Before the first day we agree a parking spot with you, bring dust sheets and tins in on foot if the van has to sit further off, and keep your front door and the lane outside it free for passers-by.
Winter brings its own planning. Frost and the odd snowfall make the steep village roads awkward in bad weather, and thick stone walls hold the cold. Paint in an unheated cottage room dries slowly, so we allow longer between coats rather than rushing the second one on.
For how we prepare and finish rooms in general, see our interior painting service. The Great Houghton area page covers the other work we take on in the village.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
