Dean decorates rental properties in Little Houghton for landlords and letting agents, travelling about 3.1 miles east from Northampton town centre. Jobs are end-of-tenancy and between-tenancy repaints, with breathable paint used in the village's old stone cottages and hard-wearing emulsions in the newer edge-of-village houses.
A small village, two kinds of rental home
Little Houghton is a compact village of 412 people at the 2011 census, on the A428 east of Northampton, and we have no figures for how many of its homes are let. What the housing does tell us is that a rental here is likely to be one of two very different things: a 17th or 18th-century stone cottage in the conservation area, or a post-war house on one of the edge-of-village closes, Nursery Close, Lodge Close or Home Acre. Each brings its own priorities between tenancies. We cover the village from our Northampton base, 3.1 miles east of the town centre, for landlords and letting agents who need a property ready for the next tenant.
Turnarounds on ironstone and limestone cottages
A let stone cottage throws up problems a modern flat doesn’t. The walls are coursed rubble ironstone and limestone in lime mortar, so the inside face needs to breathe. Over the years many such walls get vinyl emulsion for speed, and between tenancies that shows as flaking paint low on outside walls, mould in corners and patches tenants report as damp. Rolling the same vinyl on top makes it worse each time. We suggest switching the affected walls to a breathable mineral paint or claypaint. It takes more preparation once, but later turnarounds are simpler because the paint stops failing. Low ceilings, uneven walls and small timber casements also mean more cutting in per room than the floor area suggests, so allow for that in the void period.
- Check whether the cottage is one of the 38 listed buildings in the conservation area before changing finishes or colours.
- Keep a note of the paint names and colours used, so touch-ups at the next change match.
- Give tenants simple ventilation advice; it does more for these walls than any paint.
The edge-of-village houses
The post-war houses on Nursery Close, Lodge Close and Home Acre are more straightforward: standard plaster, softwood or uPVC joinery and rooms that suit a durable, wipeable neutral emulsion with satinwood on the woodwork. We fill holes, wash down, spot-prime stains and decide room by room which walls need full coats and which only need touching up. How we approach rental work across Northampton, including what an end-of-tenancy repaint covers, is on our landlord and letting agent decorating page.
Woodwork and windows between lets
Inside a cottage let, doors, skirtings and deep window boards set into thick stone walls take most of the knocks from furniture moves. We fill, sand and repaint those in a satinwood that cleans easily. The small timber casements and sashes common in the village are worth repainting rather than replacing, as the conservation area appraisal asks for traditional joinery to be kept, and a sound, freshly painted window is one less item on the next inventory check.
Keys, parking and agents managing from town
Most homes in the village open straight onto the road and few have drives, so the van and materials are handled from the street. For a letting agent managing a property from Northampton, we arrange key collection, confirm dates, and send photos of the finished rooms so you can sign off without an extra trip out. If outside joinery needs attention too, west-facing windows on the ridge above the Nene valley tend to weather first, and we can point those out on the same visit. For budgeting see our painter and decorator cost guide, and for the village as a whole the Little Houghton page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
