DH Painter & Decorator takes on commercial painting in Little Billing, NN3, about 3.2 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. The village has very few non-residential buildings, so each one is planned around its use, opening hours and, in some cases, its listing.
A short list of premises, each one different
Little Billing is a small village. Its historic population in 1931 was 83, and today it is mostly housing, with very little commercial property. Mapping data shows one convenience store on Valley Road, the Old Rectory Day Nursery in the Grade II listed rectory on Church Lane, and two small places of worship on Orchard Hill, the Ebenezer Gospel Centre and a Brethren meeting room. Bigger retail and business work in this part of Northampton is just outside the village, at Weston Favell Shopping Centre and the Standens Barn local centre.
How we run commercial jobs in general, with method statements, phased work and protection of trading areas, is on our main commercial painting page. Here we look at the three types of building that actually exist in Little Billing.
The convenience store on Valley Road
A local shop cannot close for a week of decorating. Inside, we work in sections, moving round the shelving bay by bay, so stock is protected and customers can still get to the counter. Outside, Valley Road is a residential street, and we park on the road and set up access without blocking the entrance or neighbours’ drives. Floors near the door take the most traffic and grit, so we lay down heavy-duty protection there and pick a hard-wearing, wipeable finish for the lower walls near the till and entrance. If the job includes fascia or signage, our shopfront painting page covers that separately.
A day nursery in a listed rectory
The Old Rectory is early 18th century and was enlarged around 1820. It has a colour-washed stone east front, sash windows in two-storey bays, a six-panel door with a fanlight and a bracketed timber cornice. Inside, its listing notes a fine staircase and panelled hall. Two sets of constraints apply at once:
- Children on site. Low-VOC, low-odour paints only. Rooms are worked on only when they are empty, on days agreed with the nursery. Equipment and materials are never left where children can get to them.
- Grade II listing. Changing the colour or materials of the exterior, or the character of the panelled interior, can need listed building consent. The colour-washed front needs a coating compatible with what is already on it, found by testing, not a modern acrylic masonry paint.
Any work on the sashes, door and cornice follows traditional joinery decorating: hand preparation, lead checks on old paint layers and no heat near the building fabric.
The chapels on Orchard Hill
Small places of worship tend to need a building ready for particular days. We plan halls and meeting rooms so that the paint has dried and the room is clear before services or meetings. Orchard Hill is also one of the old lanes lined with listed thatched cottages, including Knight’s Cottage, Ox Stalls and the Corn Ricks group, so vans are parked and towers carried in without crowding those frontages. Where a meeting room has walls higher than steps can reach comfortably, we use a small tower inside on floor protection. Lower walls where chairs are stacked get a hard-wearing, wipeable finish.
Next steps
We cover Little Billing from our Northampton base. Get in touch with your opening hours and any listing details, and we will plan a schedule around them. There is more about the village on our Little Billing area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
