How to paint a wooden window yourself (part 2)

Painting is a necessary measure that can significantly increase the service life and preserve the beautiful appearance of the wood. In addition, paint can prevent the appearance of mold and mildew, which will prevent putrefactive processes that can completely destroy the wooden structures of Euro-windows, reports the WINDOWS MEDIA portal.

First of all, the surface of the frame must be clean and dry, so the moisture content of the wood before painting should be less than 20 percent. Also, the room must be thoroughly cleaned so that dust does not settle on the freshly painted surface of the window frame, which can negate all the work of the home craftsman.

Preparing to paint wooden windows

Before painting wooden windows, do not forget to protect the glass unit with special masking tape, seal all cracks, remove protruding window fittings and apply a new layer of sealant. The old layer of paint is removed by sanding the wood, paying special attention to the joints and gluing areas (more paint usually accumulates in these places), and then clean the surface from dust. This should be done delicately and carefully using a stiff brush.

It is not recommended to remove paint with a knife, since such exposure may leave dents and chips on the surface of the wood. After the layer of old paint is removed, it is necessary to check the wood for damage - wormholes, rotten formations, and so on.

Also, before starting painting work, it is necessary to eliminate common defects in the form of broken locking mechanisms and loose fastening parts of wooden windows.

Removing old paint

To paint a previously painted wooden window, first of all, you should remove the old paint from the window frame using a special device - a scraper. Clean all surfaces of the frame with a spatula or sandpaper. Also, in hard-to-reach places, you should carefully remove the old layer of paint with a triangular spatula. If the frame gets stuck in the window frame, you should trim and clean the edges. Then the frame must be wiped with white spirit and washed with water.

Choice of colors

As for the color palette, the choice here falls entirely on the shoulders of the home owner. As a recommendation, the following combinations can be recommended:

• For interiors of any design, traditional white color is always suitable;
• for windows facing north, you can use warm colors;
• It is advisable to give cold shades to windows located on the south side of the room;
• if the facade of the house is made in muted colors, then the windows should be given a bright and rich shade;
• for finishing windows in a classic wooden house, which is made in the Russian style, only varnish or a matte glaze composition can be used;
• if you need to visually increase the area of ​​the room, then in this case you need to use bright shades of yellow both for the room itself and for the windows installed in it.

  
  The color of the window frame should be combined with both the facade and the interior of the home

The main thing in this matter is that the window frames are in harmony with both the facade of the house and the interior of the apartment.

Packing double-glazed windows with masking tape

To prevent the glass unit from getting dirty when painting a wooden window, it is recommended to wrap it with masking tape. To do this, masking tape is glued to the edge of the window glass, leaving a gap of 2 millimeters between the frame and the self-adhesive tape. Thanks to this technique, the gap between the glass unit and the frame will be covered with paint, which will protect it in the future from water draining from the glass unit.

Puttying wooden windows

After removing a layer of old paint from a wooden window, you may encounter defects in the surface of the frame. To eliminate them, the frame must be cleaned of dust and dirt. Next, you should fill all the cracks and dimples using a special putty for wood. Allow the putty to dry for 1–2 hours. After this, level the surface with sandpaper and remove sanding dust with a damp cloth.

If there are deep defects and depressions, the puttying process should be repeated, allowing each layer to dry. The permissible thickness of each layer of putty should not exceed 2 millimeters.

Primer

In order for the paint to adhere well to the wooden frame, priming is performed using a brush, since it has the ability to rub the primer well into all the surface irregularities of the wooden profile. For priming, it is recommended to use a thixotropic (jelly-like) primer paint, which has the property of creating a perfectly flat surface. After the primer has dried (after 24 hours), you can begin painting the window.

Before painting, the outer part of a wooden window must be treated with an antiseptic impregnation for wood.

Features of the process of painting wooden windows

Experts say that it will be much easier and safer to work if the wooden window is removed from its hinges and placed on a wide, flat surface. If there is not enough space in the house, then the Euro-window can be painted by first placing it on a staircase or scaffold, that is, driving two nails into the support (a “hundredth” is enough) at a height of about 1 meter. After this, it is enough to install the edge of the euro-window on the driven nails, and the structure will hold well.

If the sliding window was not removed from the opening in advance, then during the drying of the paint it is necessary to repeat the cycles of raising / lowering the window sash several times. Otherwise, when the paint that gets into the grooves dries, the recesses and protrusions necessary for the movement of the sash may stick together. As a result, the wooden window will be difficult to raise and lower.

The paint must dry for at least six hours. During this time, it forms maximum adhesion to the surface of the wood, thanks to which it can protect it for a long time from the destructive effects during operation. Before the paint dries completely, remove the masking tape from the glass unit.

What types of material are suitable?

Let's try to figure out what is the best way to paint wooden windows. A wide variety of paints are produced to cover wooden frames :

• oil;
• acrylic;
• alkyd;
• nitrocellulose;
• polyurethane paints, as well as alkyd and water-soluble varnishes.

Varnishes are often used as a material to seal the painted surface of a wood frame. But very often they are used as an independent coating. The advantage of varnishes is that they do not cover the structure of the wood, but make it more expressive, while at the same time reliably protecting it from negative influences.

Paints and varnishes can be either colorless or with tinting properties. For the external coating of windows, alkyd and water-soluble varnishes are used:

• 
  Alkyd varnish adheres to any surface, forming a durable coating that is resistant to precipitation, abrasion, and fading.
  Gives windows an attractive appearance, but is fire hazardous and toxic.

• Water-soluble varnish protects wood from moisture and dirt by forming a thin film. Non-toxic, non-flammable, but has a low abrasion rate. It is better to use in conjunction with protective impregnation.

There is a large selection of impregnations on the market. They also protect the wood from rotting, moisture, precipitation, and insects. Popular impregnations from the following manufacturers :

1. Pinotex;
2. Tikkurila;
3. Aquatex.

From all this we can conclude that high-quality paint should have the following properties :

• be resistant to precipitation;
• have high-quality coverage;
• protect against mold;
• be resistant to burnout;
• repel dirt;
• dry quickly;
• do not have a pungent odor.

Painting wooden euro windows

You should start painting wooden Euro-windows from the outside of the window frame with a small brush (no more than 4 cm wide), carefully painting hard-to-reach places. The paint is applied along the wooden fibers with broad strokes, the corners are painted perpendicular to the surface with pointed strokes of the brush. Next, they begin painting the lower and upper horizontal bars, and then the vertical bars of the frame. Having fully opened the window sash, the hinges and window frame are painted. If you have a double frame, you should paint the inside first, let it dry, and then paint the outside of the window frame. Window slopes are covered with one layer of paint.

Next we start painting the frame itself. It is worth painting the window frame, starting with small parts. It is very necessary to paint the joints of the boards very carefully, since the cuts are the most vulnerable internal parts of a wooden window structure. The frame and ends are painted after the window frame is completely dry. When the painted wooden window dries, apply a second coat of paint. Painting the wooden window sill is the last thing to start.

When the paint has completely dried, replace the removed and painted fittings. If the sockets for the screws securing the hinges become loose, you need to plan out the plugs from a piece of wood and lubricate them with glue (PVA, epoxy, carpentry), then hammer them into the sockets and secure them with screws.

How to determine the quantity?

The amount of paint needed to cover a wooden window depends on the type of paint material. To make the calculation more accurate, you need to know two things :

• window or frame area;
• consumption rates of the type of paint used.

The area of ​​the window or frame is measured. The resulting figure should be multiplied by the standard consumption of material (per 1 sq.m.) - this will give the amount of paint that will be needed to cover the window frame in one layer. The quality of the wooden surface also matters.

If the surface is porous and rough, then more paint will be required and vice versa - for a smooth surface the consumption will be less.

It should also be taken into account that most surfaces should be painted in several layers. In this case, paint consumption will increase.

Painting a wooden window yourself is easy

To be fair, it should be noted that painting wooden euro-windows does not require strictly professional tools and skills. If desired, every home craftsman will be able to paint frames and window sills with high quality and fairly quickly, if he follows the above rules. Of course, you don’t have to waste your time learning the basics of painting wooden windows, but contact a window company and solve this problem with the help of specialists. It should be remembered that restoring wooden euro-windows with your own hands will certainly cost less, but there is also a risk of ruining a window that is not the cheapest to date.

Let's sum it up

There is no clear favorite among the presented options. It all depends on what goals and objectives you set for yourself and for the window frames.

If this is an old dacha where you just want to do some minor cosmetic repairs to the facade for 2-3 seasons, take ordinary inexpensive oil compositions. Or acrylic.

In my opinion, polyurethane compounds are a very good choice. They are more expensive than the previous ones, but they last a long time, do not emit strong unpleasant odors, and also dry quickly.

But these are just my conclusions based on personal experience. I also repeatedly read the thematic forum and discussed this issue with colleagues. Most of them supported me.

If you want to achieve good quality coating, as well as guarantee a long service life of wooden window frames, then I do not recommend saving on paint. Take the composition from a proven and well-established manufacturer.

What paint do you use? How did you decide to treat the windows outside? How good was the result? What mistakes were made?

I look forward to your answers, as well as interesting stories from personal experience.

That's all for now. Thank you for your attention!

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