DH Painter & Decorator paints rendered and previously painted walls in Kingsthorpe (NN2), the stone-built village on Northampton's northern edge. Rendered houses on Church View, Fremeaux Terrace and the estates take masonry paint; already-painted sandstone gets a breathable system; bare stone in the conservation areas is left unpainted.
Not every wall in Kingsthorpe should be painted
A lot of masonry work elsewhere in Northampton is simple: wash the render, fix the cracks, two coats of masonry paint. Kingsthorpe needs a decision before that. The village grew out of its own stone. Northampton Sand gave the light brown sandstone for the cottages around The Green, Green End and Vicarage Lane, and a softer white and grey sandstone was quarried here until the end of the 19th century. Alongside that stone there is 19th-century red brick, render on Fremeaux Terrace and Church View, and the 1960s to 1980s estates. Each of those wants a different answer.
| Wall | Where you find it | What we recommend |
|---|---|---|
| Bare coursed-rubble sandstone or unpainted brick | The Green, Green End, Vicarage Lane, High Street, Manor Road | Leave unpainted; repoint or repair rather than coat |
| Stone or brick that is already painted | Scattered through both conservation areas, such as the Queen Adelaide’s white front | Repaint with a breathable mineral or limewash-compatible system |
| Render | Fremeaux Terrace, Church View, estate houses | Clean, repair and paint with masonry paint |
Why the local sandstone needs to breathe
Sandstone takes up moisture and lets it out again through its face. Seal that face with a plastic masonry paint and the water has nowhere to go, so it sits behind the film, the paint blisters and the stone surface can start to crumble. That matters more in Kingsthorpe than in many parts of town. Old Kingsthorpe is built on a hillside that drops towards the Brampton arm of the Nene, and groundwater breaks out where the Northampton Sand rests on Upper Lias Clay. Low walls and plinths here can be wet for long stretches.
The council’s 2017 conservation area appraisal also lists painting stone or brick walls among the small changes that erode the character of the area. Putting those two reasons together, if your stone cottage is still bare we will tell you plainly to keep it that way.
Stone that has already been painted
Some fronts were painted long ago and cannot sensibly be stripped back. The Queen Adelaide on Manor Road, with its white-painted sandstone facade, is a local example of the type. On walls like that we remove loose and flaking coatings by hand, let the masonry dry, and recoat with a breathable mineral paint or a limewash-compatible finish so moisture can still escape. Where the stone is listed, as at Greenbanks and Wayside or Well Yard House, any change of finish or colour needs listed building consent first, so we would only repaint like for like unless you already have approval.
Render on the terraces and estates
Rendered walls are where masonry paint belongs. The brick and render frontage of Fremeaux Terrace, the rendered houses on Church View and render on the post-war estates all follow a familiar routine: check for hollow patches, treat green growth, stabilise chalky areas, fill cracks and apply two coats. North-facing walls and those under the mature trees around The Green tend to grow algae fastest, so they get the longest fungicidal treatment.
On the estates, render is often only part of the elevation, a panel under a window or a band at first floor between brick. Masking the brick neatly matters as much as the paint, since a stray edge on unpainted brick is very hard to remove. The newer brownfield homes at Bective Close, Lime Tree Gardens and Scholars Court are young enough that a render repaint is rarely due yet; if yours has been patched or extended, the new render needs to cure fully before it is coated.
The full process is on our render and masonry painting page, and our guide to painting render and roughcast covers products in more depth. For other services in the village, see the Kingsthorpe area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
