We paint rendered panels, porch walls, plinths and garden walls across Rectory Farm, NN3, an estate of brick homes 4.2 miles from Northampton town centre on its north-eastern edge. These are 1973-1992 cavity-brick homes, so the job is usually part of an elevation, not the whole house.
Small areas of masonry, not whole elevations
Masonry painting often means coating a whole rendered house front. Rectory Farm is different. The energy certificates we read for Olden Road, Crowthorp Road, Morgan Close, Bentley Close and Lowlands Close all record cavity walls, and nothing in the sources shows render as the standard finish. So on this estate masonry paint goes on the parts that were rendered or painted along the way: a panel under a window, a porch surround, a garage plinth, a garden or boundary wall, or brickwork a previous owner coated years ago.
That changes the quote. A rendered panel on a 1970s terrace might be a morning’s preparation and two coats. What takes the time is the edge work, where masonry paint meets face brick, a window frame or a uPVC sill, because a wobbly line on unpainted brick shows from the street.
Modern buildings, modern coatings
Almost every house here dates from 1973 onwards. There is no ironstone, no limestone, no listed fabric and no conservation area recorded for the estate, so the lime-wash and mineral-only specifications that older villages need are not required. A good acrylic or siloxane masonry paint over properly prepared render is the right system for a cement-rendered panel on a 1980s house, and it can be tinted to any colour.
Preparation is the same discipline as anywhere: a fungicidal wash on green growth, stabiliser on chalky render, and cracks raked out and filled. The difference is what we check for first. On panels fixed to a cavity wall we tap for hollow render around the edges and look at the sill above, because a leaking sill is the usual reason a small rendered area fails early. Porch walls get the same check at the joint with the canopy, where a gap in the flashing sends rain straight down the face of the render and leaves a dark streak that paint alone will not cure.
Thinking twice before painting bare brick
An owner in the detached closes might consider painting the whole brick front to modernise a 1980s house. It can be done, and no heritage rule on the estate stops it. But once brick is painted it has to be repainted every several years for good, and getting paint back off is slow and rarely clean. On a semi on Morgan Close, Riley Close or Alvis Court, painting one half also leaves a hard line against the neighbour’s brick. We would usually suggest painting the porch, plinth or panels and leaving the main brick alone, and we say so at the quote.
In the northern 1970s area, Census 2021 shows 35.5% of homes social rented and 9.7% shared ownership. If your home is one of these, the lease or the housing association may control any change to external walls, colour included, so check before booking.
Garden walls along a shared terrace
On the 1970s terraces, low front walls and the walls between back gardens are often shared with the house next door. If only your side is painted the join shows, so it is worth a word with your neighbour first; some decide to have both sides done on the same visit. Where the garden can only be reached through the house, materials come through the hallway under dust sheets.
The general method is on our render and masonry painting page, and the guide to painting render and roughcast covers paint types in more detail. For other services on the estate, see the Rectory Farm page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
