DH Painter & Decorator paints the outside of homes in Semilong (NN2), a short drive north of Northampton town centre (about 0.8 miles). Outside work here means bays, sashes and front doors on parked-up streets, and on Marriott Street and Barrack Road a colour change needs council permission first.
Two sets of rules within a few streets
Semilong is unusual because the rules on outside paint change depending on which side of the neighbourhood you live on. Most of the terraced streets west of Barrack Road, from Stanley Street across to Lower Adelaide Street, lie outside any conservation area, so repainting a front door, a bay or a set of windows there is an ordinary job. On the eastern fringe it is different. Marriott Street, along with the houses facing Barrack Road and Kingsthorpe Road, falls within the Barrack Road Conservation Area. Its Article 4 Direction takes away the usual permitted development right to paint the exterior of any part of a house that fronts a highway.
In practice that means a colour change on a Marriott Street front, or on one of the Barrack Road terraces, needs checking with West Northamptonshire Council before any paint goes on. Repainting in the existing colours is the straightforward route, and it is what we suggest for most of these houses. If you want a different scheme, we can help you set out what you are proposing so the question to the council is clear.
What actually gets painted on a Semilong front
The housing here was mostly built from the 1880s to the 1910s, with the Marriott Street and Semilong Road terraces on the eastern side a little older. On a typical front the paintable surfaces are few but exposed:
- Bay windows. Many terraces have timber bays, and some are rendered or painted. They project from the wall and catch more rain than the flat brick, so bay woodwork tends to fail first and is the most common exterior repaint on these streets.
- Timber sashes. Original sashes survive on many of these streets, and the 2019 appraisal for the Barrack Road edge objects strongly to swapping them for uPVC. We repair and repaint them rather than suggest replacement, and we ease each sash after painting so it still slides.
- Painted stone details. Along Marriott Street the stone sills, lintels, architraves and console brackets carry paint, and the appraisal names them as part of the area’s character. They stay painted in the existing scheme.
- Front doors and frames. Usually the first thing an owner notices, and quick to do once access is sorted.
Bare stone is the exception. The rubble-and-ashlar faces at Leicester Parade and St Paul’s Terrace should not be painted at all; only their joinery and bargeboards are ours to touch. For the full preparation and coating process, see the main exterior painting service page.
Ladders on narrow, parked-up pavements
Semilong Road doubles as a rat run, and the Neighbourhood Plan says parked cars dominate it while its footpaths are narrow and uneven. Marriott Street is just as full of cars. Mid-terrace fronts sit right on the footway or behind a shallow front area, so there is little room to foot a ladder and still leave space for people walking past.
We look at the street before quoting, decide where the van can realistically go, and keep the footway passable while we work. Where the rear of a house needs painting and there is no side access, ladders and materials go through the house, so we sheet the hall and stairs before anything is carried in.
Timing a repaint on a north Northampton terrace
Front elevations in a street of terraces face either north or south because the streets run east to west. South-facing fronts take more sun and tend to chalk and fade sooner, while north-facing fronts stay damp longer after rain and are more likely to grow green on sills. That affects when we would book each side. Our guide to the right season for outside painting explains the temperature and drying limits we work to.
Semilong is a short hop north from our Northampton base, so a site visit to measure up and look at the paintwork is easy to arrange.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
