DH Painter & Decorator paints metal gates, railings and cast iron rainwater goods in Kingsthorpe (NN2), from the iron railings of the old village to steel gates on the newer streets. The council's conservation area appraisal asks for railings to be black, and many older houses have cast iron gutters on brackets that need rust treatment before painting.
Black, because the appraisal asks for it
In Kingsthorpe the colour of railings is written into council guidance. The 2017 appraisal for the conservation area round The Green, Mill Lane, Hopes Place and The Leys asks for railings and lamp posts to be painted black. For homeowners inside that boundary, black is the safe and expected choice for front railings and metal gates, and it sits well against light brown sandstone and red brick.
We would steer you towards a satin or semi-gloss black rather than a high gloss on old ironwork, which tends to show every pit and repair. On a listed building, check whether a colour change needs listed building consent before choosing anything other than what is already there.
Cast iron gutters and downpipes on the older houses
A lot of Kingsthorpe’s 19th-century houses have cast iron gutters carried on brackets, with few fascia boards behind them. That ironwork is high up, often neglected and usually the first thing to rust through. The usual faults are rust at joints and outlets, flaking paint on the brackets, and downpipes rusting at the back where a brush never reached last time. We:
- wire brush and scrape to sound metal, taking care with cast iron since it is brittle and can crack if hit hard;
- treat remaining rust and spot-prime bare metal with a rust-inhibiting primer;
- paint the back of downpipes where they sit close to the wall, not just the visible face;
- treat old coatings as possibly lead-based and avoid dry sanding.
Where a joint is leaking or a section has cracked, painting will not fix it, and we will point it out so you can get it repaired first.
Ironwork beside the A508 and A5199
Harborough Road and Welford Road meet in the middle of Kingsthorpe, and houses and walls along both A-roads, plus the High Street and Manor Road conservation area that fronts onto Welford Road, get traffic spray and road grime. In winter that can carry de-icing salt, which speeds up rust on railings near the kerb. These runs need a thorough wash before preparation, and they repay an extra coat on the lower bars and the feet of uprights where salt and water collect. Where railings are set into stone walls or copings, we clean out rust around the base, since expanding rust can crack the stone it sits in.
Newer gates on the estates and infill
Gates on the post-war estates and the newer streets such as Bective Close and Lime Tree Gardens are more often mild steel or galvanised. Mild steel rusts quickly once the coat is broken, so chips are treated early. Galvanised steel needs a primer made for zinc, or the paint simply peels off. Colour is your choice outside the conservation areas, though black or a dark grey is still a sensible pick because it hides road dust and small chips well.
Automatic or sliding driveway gates need the motor and track masked carefully and the gate left open to dry, so we plan those for a day when you can do without using it. Hinges, latches and bolts are cleaned and the moving parts kept free of paint so the gate still closes properly once the coats have hardened. If you are also having the woodwork or render done, booking the ironwork alongside means everything is finished in matching weather and one set of access.
The full method for each metal is on our metal gate and railing painting page. Other services we cover in the village are on the Kingsthorpe area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
