Dean repaints fascias, soffits and gable timber in Kingsley, NN2, which sits 1.5 miles north-east of central Northampton. Many rooflines here are timber on late-Victorian villas and terraces, so the job is rot repair, priming and gloss, with scaffold planned for houses that front busy roads.
Victorian eaves are timber, and lots of it
Kingsley’s dated houses are mostly from the 1870s and 1880s. On the park-facing villas the eaves are deep, the gables are decorated, and the boards are timber rather than the plastic cladding found on later estates. That is good news for anyone wanting the period look kept, but timber this old needs looking after. Where paint has cracked on the top edge of a fascia or at a bargeboard joint, water gets in and the wood softens from the inside.
The deep wooden eaves cornice on the Grade II Kingsley Park Middle School building, put up in 1915 on St George’s Avenue, shows how much the builders of this district relied on timber at the roofline.
Leaves, gutters and the trees along the Racecourse
Kingsley’s streets and the park avenues are lined with mature trees. Every autumn the leaves fill gutters, outlets block, and rainwater spills over the back of the gutter onto the fascia and down the soffit. That is often the first place we find rot on a Kingsley roofline. Before painting we check gutter joints and outlets, point out any that are blocked or leaking, and recommend clearing them, because fresh gloss over a board that gets soaked every storm will not last. Algae and sap on soffits and gable boards are washed off and treated before work starts.
The exposed fronts facing the open Racecourse also take more weather than streets with houses opposite, so south- and west-facing eaves usually show wear first.
Repair before paint
Our order of work on an original timber roofline goes like this:
- Probe each board, especially ends, joints and the lower edge of gable boards, for soft timber.
- Cut out small areas of rot and fill with a two-part exterior resin, or splice in new timber where the damage is deeper.
- Scrape and sand back failed paint so old layers do not show through as ridges, then seal knots and prime bare wood.
- Undercoat and finish in exterior gloss or satin, then paint gutters, downpipes and brackets so the roofline matches.
Decorated gables with carved or fretted bargeboards are cut in by brush. On Article 4 addresses we repaint in the existing colours, and if a board is beyond repair we suggest replacing it with matching timber rather than a plastic profile. The general method is on our fascia and soffit painting page.
Scaffold beside Kettering Road and Kingsley Road
A Victorian villa’s eaves are high, and its upper gable higher still. Many of the Racecourse-facing houses front busy roads, including East Park Parade (the stretch of Kettering Road along the park) and Kingsley Road, so a scaffold or tower here stands beside traffic and a well-used footpath. We plan access before quoting, including any permit the scaffold needs, and keep the footpath clear and protected while the work is going on.
The smaller terraces behind Kettering Road, such as Junction Road, have lower eaves, but parking is on the street and we could not confirm rear access, so getting ladders to the back may mean carrying them through the house. We sort that out with you on the survey.
Scaffold is a large part of the cost of roofline work, so it usually makes sense to have the sashes and stucco done while it is up. The painter and decorator cost guide explains what affects the price, and the Kingsley page covers our other services in the area.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
