We decorate rented homes in Hartwell for landlords and letting agents, mainly repaints between tenancies. The village is about 6.5 miles south of Northampton town centre, so each job is planned as a single block of work with everything brought on the first day, and the paint is chosen for houses that can suffer from shade and condensation.
What a rented house here is likely to be
We don’t have figures on how many Hartwell homes are let, and the village has no flats over a shopping parade of the kind found in town. What can be said is which property types make up most of the housing a landlord here might own. Salcey Avenue and Salcey Close hold the largest group of former council homes, 74 houses and flats put up by the rural district council after the Second World War, and smaller groups of council houses date from the 1930s. Private estates followed in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly at Lower End and south-east of the main street, and a 1973 permission for 13 acres beyond the old village edge added 153 houses.
These are plain, plastered houses with straightforward rooms, which suits a quick, consistent turnaround. If a let is one of the older limestone cottages instead, it needs a different specification, covered further down.
One visit, not several
Between-tenancy work depends on keeping the property empty for as few days as possible. In a town-centre flat a decorator can pop back for a missing tin. In Hartwell, a drive of about seven miles from Northampton through the forest or round by Roade, that costs time. So at the quote visit, or from the agent’s check-out report and photos, we list every room and surface, agree the colours, and arrive with the full set of materials. The work then runs as consecutive days until it is done, with key collection and return agreed with you or the agent beforehand.
A typical turnaround covers filling and sanding hook holes and knocks, washing down kitchen and hallway walls, repainting walls and ceilings in one neutral colour, and refreshing skirtings, doors and window boards. Our main landlord and letting agent decorating page sets out how we keep colours consistent so later touch-ups are easy.
Condensation and mould on the forest side
Houses close to Salcey Forest get heavy shade and damp air. In a rented home that often shows as black mould in bedroom corners, on north-facing walls and around window reveals, especially where a tenant dries washing indoors. Painting straight over it is pointless; it comes back through within weeks. We wash affected areas with a fungicidal solution, let them dry, and use a mould-resistant paint in bathrooms, kitchens and any room where mould has appeared before. It is worth recording this on the inventory so the next tenant knows the ventilation matters.
Recurring mould can point to a ventilation or damp problem that decorating will not fix. If we see signs of that, such as a tide mark low on a wall or a soaked window board, we tell you rather than painting over it.
Older cottages as lets
Where a landlord owns one of the village’s older limestone cottages, a standard vinyl matt is the wrong choice for the solid stone walls, because it traps moisture and starts to flake within a tenancy or two. A breathable paint holds up for longer between lets. If the cottage is one of the parish’s 12 listed buildings, the outside is repainted in its existing colour and system unless the council has agreed a change. Inside, on any later plasterboard partitions or ceilings, an ordinary hard-wearing emulsion in a matching colour keeps touch-ups simple between tenants.
Quotes for agents and landlords
We price each property individually; the painter and decorator cost guide explains what affects the figure. The village’s older and newer housing is described on the Hartwell area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
