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Paint
On A Window |
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A quick coat
of paint on window trim - a bad idea
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If the exterior of your home has wood trim around its doors and windows, you likely know you're going to get three to five years before you have to tackle the time-consuming job of repainting it.
In the meantime, all of the elements -- wind, rain, sun and freezing temperatures -- are doing their best to hasten the paint's demise. It's not a pretty picture, but there is help available. (Well, yes, you could hire a contractor to fix it, or you could have the wood cladded with vinyl for a more permanent fix, but I'm thinking more of the do-it-yourself kind of help). Wood care authority Ralph Swan has some advice about handling a job that even he admits is not his favourite.
"A lot of people have a tendency to think of it as an immediate project," says Swan, who represents the Minwax line of products. "They want it done right away, so when they come up against a pocket or a void in the wood, or a corner that a squirrel has eaten away, they'll throw some caulking in the hole and worry about it later." Unfortunately, "later" could arrive in as little as six months, when the paint over the repair job cracks and peels, and the repair itself fails.
"The big thing about repainting window trim is preparation," Swan says. "It's the part that everybody hates, but it's the most important one." This includes sanding the existing paint finish to remove loose pieces of paint that will interfere with the new finish. As you do this, you'll no doubt find places where knots have shrunk over time and fallen out, where chips and dings are marring the surface, or where cracks or splintering have started. If the water has been able to penetrate the wood anywhere, you'll also feel it as a soft or spongy area.
"Wood hardener will make fibres crisp and hard again," he explains. "It's a simple application -- you just brush it on."
If you're using filler in a large area, Swan recommends inserting screws to act as rebar does in concrete. The filler will bond to the wood, the metal and to itself.
"It does dry very hard -- 30 minutes later, you can actually prime it and get ready to paint. And as it's curing, you can shape it and work it," he adds. "It's a great repair product -- it's a wood replacement, but it's a lot stronger. I find that I fall back on it again and again. Once people understand what the capability of the product is, it's one of those products that renovators won't be without."
--CanWest News Service
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NOTE: The comments contained on this
web site are for information purposes only and do not constitute legal
advice.
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