DH Painter & Decorator paints fascias, soffits, bargeboards and gutters in The Bramptons, NN6. Dean covers both villages from our Northampton base, about 4 miles away, and the work here ranges from conserving decorative Victorian bargeboards to recoating 1960s timber eaves in Cedar Hythe.
Decorative bargeboards at Halfway Thorn
Nos. 1-8 Halfway Thorn, the brick cottages on Harlestone Road, are locally listed and stand out from the ironstone around them, with decorative bargeboards, terracotta ridge tiles and finials. The bargeboards sit on the gable ends, fully exposed to sun and rain, and the cut-out patterns give water plenty of edges to get into. The 2020 conservation area appraisal proposes an Article 4 Direction covering bargeboards on these cottages. We have not seen confirmation that it has been made, but the intent is clear: keep the boards and repair them rather than swap them for plain or plastic ones.
So the job is conservation as much as decoration. We scrape and hand-sand every pierced section rather than power-sanding, because the thin pierced shapes break easily and the old layers may contain lead. Soft spots are cut out and filled with a two-part exterior resin, or a joiner splices in new timber to the same profile where the rot goes deep. Bare end grain is primed, then the board gets an undercoat and an exterior gloss or microporous finish in the existing colour. Painting each cut-out by brush takes far longer than a straight fascia, and we price it that way.
Mono-pitch and flat roof edges in Cedar Hythe
The late-1960s houses in Cedar Hythe were designed with mono-pitch and flat roofs, attached garages and, on some, copper-clad oriel roofs. That gives long, straight timber fascias, deep at the high side of a mono-pitch and low over a flat-roofed garage. They sit near the horizontal timber cladding, which the appraisal says should stay white painted or brown stained, so we finish the fascias to match the house rather than introducing a new colour.
Many fascias here have been capped or replaced in uPVC over the years. Plastic can be painted with the right primer, but we will say plainly if a board is better cleaned than coated. On the original timber, the common failures are paint lifting along the top edge where it meets the roof covering and the felt, and rot at the corners of the garage roofs.
Leaf fall, blocked gutters and the timing of the work
Protection orders cover every tree in Cedar Hythe, with more protected trees along Harlestone Road and Back Lane. Those trees cannot be cut back without consent, and they fill gutters, hold damp against soffits and leave the shaded sides of a roofline green. Before any painting we clear the gutters, check the outlets and joints for leaks that have been soaking the board behind, and wash the timber with a fungicidal treatment. Then it has to dry. Under a canopy that can take several dry days, so we plan roofline work for a settled spell and avoid autumn leaf fall.
Plain eaves on the stone cottages
The ironstone cottages and the 1848 estate terraces mostly have clay tile, plain tile or slate roofs with simpler eaves and, on many, coped gables with kneelers, where there is no bargeboard at all. Roofline painting there is usually limited to the gutters and downpipes, any timber eaves board, and the gabled porches. On the Grade II listed estate groups, keep to the existing colour unless the council has agreed a change. Where a house sits right on the A5199 frontage, a tall ladder footing goes on the pavement, so we use barriers and keep someone at the foot.
The standard process is on our fascia and soffit painting page, and our Bramptons area page covers the wider parish. If you are comparing quotes, our guide to choosing a decorator lists what to ask.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
