We decorate new plaster, re-skims and extensions in Pitsford, about 4.7 miles north of Northampton. The job covers mist coats on bare plaster, breathable finishes where new gypsum meets old lime walls, and new joinery once the builder or plasterer has finished.
Extending a house in a conservation village
Most of historic Pitsford lies inside a conservation area, designated in 1990 and reviewed in 2019, and its appraisal sets out how extensions should behave. They should be subordinate to the original building and built in sympathetic materials, and cladding an exterior in render, stone, timber or tiles needs permission. Those rules shape the outside of the job. Inside, they lead to a situation that comes up in many of the village’s older houses: brand-new plaster on modern blockwork or board, butting up to an old wall of coursed Pendle stone finished in lime.
Bare plaster always needs a diluted mist coat before anything else, and the reasons are on our guide to painting new plaster. What is particular to Pitsford is the join between old and new, and the choice of paint that works across both.
Where gypsum meets lime
Old lime plaster on a solid stone wall moves moisture through itself. Modern gypsum skim does not behave the same way, and where the two meet you often get a fine crack along the junction, or a patch where damp gathers in the old wall rather than escaping. Sealing the old side with a plastic-feeling vinyl emulsion can make that worse.
Our approach in the older houses:
- Mist coat the new plaster once it has dried to an even pale colour, with no darker damp patches left in corners or behind radiators.
- Fill the junction crack with a flexible filler, not hard gypsum, so it can take a little seasonal movement.
- Use a breathable emulsion or mineral paint across the whole wall, old and new, so the finish matches and the lime side can still breathe.
- Leave bare stone bare. Exposed rubblestone inside an extension link or a converted barn is not coated in standard masonry paint.
A quick comparison across the village
| Where | Typical new surface | What it meets | Finish we would suggest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottages on Manor Road, Church Lane, Grange Lane | Skim on board or patched walls after rewiring | Lime plaster on Pendle stone | Breathable or mineral paint over a mist coat |
| Converted barns and former farmhouses | New plasterboard partitions and ceilings | Old stone and timber | Mist coat, then breathable emulsion; bare stone left unpainted |
| Drummond Close, Broadlands, Glebe Lane | Re-skims and extensions on modern blockwork | Modern gypsum and board | Mist coat, then two coats of standard emulsion |
The estates, and the new joinery
On the post-war and modern estates the job is simpler. New plaster meets old plaster of the same kind, so after the drying check and mist coat it takes ordinary emulsion, and nothing heritage-related limits colour or finish. Those houses lie outside the historic core.
Either way, an extension brings new joinery: MDF or softwood skirtings, architraves, door linings and sometimes window boards. Bare MDF edges are sealed first so they don’t swell, knots in new softwood are sealed so resin doesn’t bleed, and nail holes are filled before the top coats. Roof lanterns and vaulted ceilings in single-storey extensions need a tower or podium to reach the upstands safely. The full list of what an extension decorating job includes is on the main new plaster and extension painting page.
Timing on the hill
Pitsford sits on high ground, the watershed between Pitsford Water and the Sedge Brook valley, with springs around the village and heavy tree cover. A new extension in a shaded corner of a walled plot dries more slowly than one in open sun, and a cold solid wall next to it dries slower still. We would rather wait a little longer for even colour across the plaster than paint over trapped moisture. If you are planning work with a builder, tell us roughly when the plasterer will finish and we can plan from that date. More about working in the village is on our Pitsford page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
