DH Painter & Decorator paints interiors in Milton Malsor, a village about 3.2 miles south-west of Northampton town centre in the NN7 and NN4 postcode areas. Dean adjusts the paint and preparation to the house, using breathable emulsions on old lime plaster in the listed cottages and a mist coat on the fresh plaster that comes with infill houses and extensions.
What sits behind the walls of a Milton Malsor cottage
Most of the older houses in Milton Malsor are built of coursed ironstone rubble, sometimes mixed with limestone, and several date from the 16th to the 18th century. Thatch End on High Street and Corner Cottage on Green Street are two of the listed examples. Inside houses of that age you rarely find flat gypsum plaster. Walls tend to be finished in lime plaster that follows the stone underneath, so they bow, lean and change thickness from one corner to the next. Some houses are said to have beams from the 16th or 17th century, and the Manor House on Malsor Lane has panelling over at least one of them.
That affects the painting in two ways. Lime plaster needs to breathe, so a vinyl silk or a heavy contract matt can hold moisture in the wall and lead to blistering and flaking within a season or two. Dean will usually suggest a breathable emulsion or a clay-based paint. The second point is about looks. Trying to make a 300-year-old wall perfectly flat can damage it and still won’t work. Good preparation here means filling cracks, consolidating loose areas and leaving the wall’s natural line alone.
Ground floors, damp and the stream through The Dip
The village sits on mainly sandy ground that was once an ancient riverbed. A stream runs north-west through the village and across The Dip field, and it flooded in 1998, causing minor damage. Old solid walls on that sort of ground often show tide marks, salts or patches of loose paint at the base of ground-floor rooms.
Painting over those signs only hides them for a while. Before quoting, Dean will check whether the plaster is dry and sound, and whether an earlier coat of modern paint is trapping moisture. Where it is, the right fix may be to take that coat back and repaint with something breathable. If the damp is active, it needs sorting out at the source before any decorating, and we will tell you that plainly rather than paint over it.
Infill houses, extensions and the sheltered flats
New building in Milton Malsor is limited to infill within the village boundary, so newer homes stand between older ones, and many of the old cottages have been extended. Those jobs bring fresh plaster and plasterboard, which need a diluted mist coat before the finishing coats. Our guide to painting new plaster explains why. The awkward part is the joint between an extension and the original house, where modern plaster meets old stone walls. Each side may need a different paint to stay sound.
The village also has 26 sheltered flats and bungalows run by South Northants Homes. Rooms there are modern and regular, so the work is mostly about wipeable, hard-wearing finishes and keeping disruption low while people are at home.
Low rooms, small windows and plenty of glazing bars
Listed houses in the village have horizontal sliding sashes, 12- and 16-pane sashes and leaded casements. From the inside, every glazing bar has to be cut in by hand, and window boards on deep stone reveals take a lot of wear. Low ceilings and beams mean step-ups and short platforms in place of tall ladders, and furniture is harder to move in small rooms. We build that time into the quote, so the job is not rushed at the end.
For a full list of the rooms and surfaces we cover, see our main interior painting service page. There is more about the village on our Milton Malsor area page.
Arranging a visit from Northampton
Milton Malsor is a short drive from our base, reached along Towcester Road or from M1 Junction 15, about 2 miles east of the village. Dean comes out to look at the rooms, checks the walls and gives you a written quote before anything is booked. Call 07539 779 036 to arrange a time.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
