By adding an address do you mean creating a new wallet ?
Surely if i have a wallet that has a set amount of BTC in it and i no longer use then once i have the private keys backed up for that wallet then all is good ? I do not need to keep exporting keys for it as i am not using it...
Addresses are not the same thing as wallets. One wallet has multiple addresses. Backing up private keys ensures that you can spend from any address that existed at the time you made the backup. This works for coins that you received after making the backup, into an address that you had made before the backup. Same goes for backing up the wallet (as far as I know).