We decorate hallways, stairs and landings in Upton, NN5, about 2.1 miles west of Northampton town centre. Many Upton homes are three or four storeys tall, so the stairwell wall can be the highest surface in the house, and Dean brings stair platforms and staging to reach it safely.
Stairwells that climb three and four storeys
A two-storey semi has one flight and a single tall wall. Many Upton homes are different. OpenStreetMap tags about 105 buildings in the estate core as three-storey, and the design-code villas on the edge of the park go to four. In those houses the stair turns at each landing, and the void over the stairs can run the full height of the building. The wall above the top flight is often the hardest surface in the whole house to reach, and it is the one that gets left when owners paint the rest themselves.
We set up stair platforms that adjust to stand level across different treads, with staging boards bridging between them and the landing. On the tallest stairwells that means building access in stages and moving it as we work down. Nothing leans on the banister or balances on a single tread. Our main hallway, stairs and landings page covers the kit in more detail.
Where a design-code villa has a double-height sun space opening off the hall, a small tower goes up inside instead, on boards to protect the floor. We measure the drop on the quote visit, so the right platforms and board lengths arrive on the first morning rather than a second trip back to the yard.
Light from above
At Site C on West Street the architects lit the stairwells with roof-ridge lights, and the same villas have roof windows too. Daylight coming straight down a wall is good for living with but hard on paintwork. It rakes across the surface and picks out every roller lap, patch of filler and change in sheen. We deal with that in three ways:
- Filling and sanding the long plasterboard joints and nail pops that newer homes develop as they settle, then spot-priming the repairs so they don’t flash through.
- Rolling each wall from top to bottom in one go with a wet edge, so there are no lap lines where a drop was stopped and restarted.
- Choosing a durable matt rather than a silk. Matt hides the surface under top light, and scrubbable matt versions still cope with hands and bags on the lower wall.
Protecting a house that is still being lived in
The stairs are the only way between floors, so they can’t be shut for days. We keep a walkway clear on the treads, put down dust sheets and stair runners over carpets, and tape protection along handrails and spindles before any staging goes up. Many Upton homes still have their original fitted stair carpet, or a new one laid since moving in, and paint on a light-coloured runner is hard to undo.
| Upton layout | What it usually involves |
|---|---|
| Two-storey house or semi | One stair platform, one tall wall, hall and landing in two to three days |
| Three-storey townhouse | Two flights, staging moved between landings, more woodwork and doors |
| Villa with a double-height space or glazed gable | Tower or staging inside, extra care with sheen where large glazing lights the wall |
Getting staging into a mews house
Lots of Upton homes face onto living streets and mews, such as Knot Tiers Mews or Rounding Mews, which are narrow and shared with people walking through. Boards and platforms come off the van and are carried straight in, so we talk to you first about where we can park and unload without blocking a neighbour. More about painting in the neighbourhood is on our Upton area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
