Best wood primer of old, unpainted dried out external wooden window sills?

[AL_n]

Some of the windows in the South side of my house have wooden frames and sills, and on the outside of the house, most of the paint has flaked off, leaving bare wood that is severely sun-baked and weather-beaten, yet thankfully, with almost no rot. I have recently bought this house and I now want to paint the external side of these frames to prolong their life as much as possible. What is a good primer to use? What soaks into dry wood well, and stays put, even over the duration of a long hot summer or three?

I'm under the impression that aluminium primer is good. I guess it must soak into dry wood well, because it is very runny, compared to other wood primers, some of which have the consistency of cheese spread! It seems to cost more than other primers, which also suggests to me that it might be particularly good for some applications.

Anyone got any strong opinions on this?

Al.

[Tim W]

You could do worse than going to a big paint manufacturer and buying their best quality exterior paint. They do actually carry out research and development and test and improve their paints. Dulux (ICI) Weathershield for instance is a good paint system. You must _not_ buy your paint from a retail/diy outlet because even if it is labelled Dulux Weathershield (for instance) it is water based and a totally different paint to the oil based trade paint from the trade supplier. The quality of diy paint is always compromised in order to give it 'marketable' qualities like easy brush washing or non drip consistency.

Alternatively you can stick with more traditional oil paints and get a good result. Metallic primers have been used for years as yacht paints, with instructions to start with thinned primer then apply several more coats of primer before undercoating. Gloss, gloss, gloss is another method I have seen used on historic buildings with traditional paints, whereby you just use gloss from first to last coat and keep going till you have the finish you want.

I would treat the bare wood with cuprinol and let it dry well before you paint.

Tim W

[stuart noble]

2 part wood hardener. Having tried all sorts over the years, that's a very strong opinion :-)

opportunity, and you'll probably never have to paint again. The wood doesn't have to be "rotten" to benefit. I've even used it on brand new wood.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Good idea. I used this sort of product once on rotting wood, and it really turns the surface into a wood/resin composite and totally stabilises it.

After that any sort of grain filling primer for outdoor use will be fine.

[Airport Shuttle]

Sikkens Rubbol is a good product.

[AL_n]

The Natural Philosopher wrote in news:i6vcsv$5id$ [e-mail]:

Thanks to all, for the advice thus far. Yes indeed, the woodwork has gone grey, and the grain is also standing out, almost as if it has been sand- blasted. So I will take the advice, and try the said product. Thanks.

Al

[John MacLeod]

You could do a lot worse than seeking out your local trade paint supplier -- which may be a more difficult exercise than you'd think. Around here a lot of the painters and decorators actually use local retail stores to buy their paint,presumably on attractive terms. That allows them to direct individual clients to the retail store in question to see wallpaper patterns etc. And significant numbers also use the paint manufacturers' "trade centres" -- where increasingly they sell to the public as well -- at an exorbitant price.

I was asked today to pick up an order at the local Dulux Trade Centre. Almost =A350 for five litres of emulsion paint. All I can say is that I certainly would not even think of buying there for myself.

Running a caravan site we have trade accounts with a number of suppliers of various sorts. Our fire extinguisher contract is with a company who also (interesting combination of interests!) run the best trade paint centre in the area. I've been dealing with them for thirty years. Their fire-extinguisher maintenance charges are approximately half the cost of the big "national" companies and the whole exercise is trouble-free. Their paint prices are about a third of the price of the big names and the materials they supply are always fit for the job. And they do the whole range -- automobile and agricultural as well (just in case you want to repaint your little grey Fergie in exactly the authentic shade!). No fancy showroom -- no showroom of any sort. Just a trade counter. And they're quite happy to supply over it to anyone -- though we obviously have an account with them anyway. Companies like that are worth their weight in gold.

[jkn]

Hi Stuart

Fine, but that Ronseal stuff isn't 2-part, is it?

I'd buy a two-part version if I came across it...

J^n

[stuart noble]

On reading the COSH data, maybe not, but then why the big plastic cap on the can? That usually contains the hardener IME. Can't vouch for it if it's not 2 part but maybe it works well enough with an acetone solvent

[Jim K]

strewth.... the big plastic cap is the "handy" kettle in which to pour some (single part) hardener (styrene) and dip your (single use) brush.....

where's this "2 part wood hardener" then??

gotta proper link????

Jim K

[stuart noble]

I would have thought the acetone would attack the plastic, otherwise why package it in a metal container?

I thought the Ronseal link was it. Last time I used a wood hardener (can't remember the brand) it was 2 part, and the plastic cap contained a tube of catalyst. If I needed a lot of this stuff I'd approach a GRP supplier because I think on porous material the drying time with a single pack might be a good deal longer than stated on the can.

[Lobster]

That would be here: (or

Ronseal also used to do "Wood Preservative Tablets" which they sold alone or as part of a boxed "Ronseal Wood Repair System", which also included the 2-part filler and the wood hardener. The idea was that you drilled into affected wood, shoved one of these tablets down the hole and then filled over.

The idea was that they released preservative deep within the wood if moisture levels increase. I used them once or twice and I didn't seem to have any problems; however they don't seem to be available any more.

David

[Jim K]

erm.... that's filler not preservative??

Jim K

[Spamlet]

I hope you mean the clear 5 star stuff: don't let the OP make the mistake of using coloured (though if he's painting black it won't matter. But in the sun it's not going to stay on long whatever he does.)

S

[Spamlet]

> If the paint is off and you're seeing that grey look, it's the perfect

I've never managed to make anything stick once the wood has gone grey.

S

[Spamlet]

>>> If the paint is off and you're seeing that grey look, it's the perfect

Yes but it sure is a rip off, as it has almost no 'solids' in it. I get the impression it is nothing more than very dilute nail varnish (and have indeed taken to using diamond varnish as my primer...)

S >

[Spamlet]

Generally the problem I've had with these hardeners is the solvent is so volatile it dries long before it gets the chance to soak in.

S

[Spamlet]

I think, if I ever try to do it again I would try to level the grain with something like the old cellulose 'knifing' paste, spread with a rubber block, that used to be used on car body repairs. As the 'wood hardeners seem to be dilute cellulose acetate solutions, I think the two might stick together where so far, conventional methods I have tried have not.

S

[The Natural Philosopher]

styrene is not acetone, and acetone does not attack polythene, It comes in polythene bottles.

[AL_n]

stuart noble wrote in news:RRZko.39817 $ [e-mail]:

I think the large plastic cap is simply so that you can dip a brush onto it, as the can iteself, probably has a small screw cap. I think it's the wood *filler* that is 2-part and has a tube of hardener with it.

There may have been some confusion between the catalysing filler "hardener" and the (one-part) wood "hardener".

Incidentally, I once used liquid wood hardener on some window frames that had started to rot (after removing all of the loose/soft wet rot. The kit also contained wood preservative pellets that were inserted into the wood after drilling holes. I did the job very carefully, according to instructions. It may have delayed the continuation of the spread of the rot very very slightly, but it by no means halted it, and the rot was back with a vengeance before one year had passed. Perhaps that's why they no longer sell those kits...

Al