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Painting 100+yr wood-adhesion

ClevelandEd | Posted in General Discussion on June 30, 2004 06:20am

The wood on my windows is a bit soft at the surface.  Any suggestions on improving paint adhesion?  I’ve looked in the archives and read the oil versus latex primer posts. I use oil.   

Anyone tried using one of the products that claim to solidify the wood and provide a “perfect” painting surface?  I see epoxy products for sale, and a one part product from Bondo. 

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  1. Piffin | Jun 30, 2004 06:44am | #1

    Sand to remove loose, and oxidized wod, then paint on a coat or three of minwax Wood Hardener, repiar missing wood with Minwax wood Filler, sand, and prime before painting. You'll be suprised how much the hardnerer solidifies waekened wood fibres.

     

     

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    1. ClevelandEd | Jul 01, 2004 05:18am | #4

      I'll sand and try the Minwax.  Thanks.

      1. alias | Jul 01, 2004 05:47am | #5

        wash coat the wood after the filler with dewaxed shellac by zinsser two coats- two coats cover-all primer scuffed up w/ 120 grit tack ragged then paint i show you some results tomorrow...... bear"expectations are premeditated resentments"

    2. ClevelandEd | Jul 19, 2004 06:38am | #6

      Piffin,

      I'd appreciate a little followup advice.  I did my first window with the Minwax Wood Hardener.   I ended up with a suface buildup of the product in the areas where the wood wasn't very absorbent.  I'll work on improving my application method, but I am wondering if I have to totally sand away the surface buildup before applying oil primer.  I have no experience with this and don't know if the buildup is stable.

      Thanks, Ed 

      1. Piffin | Jul 19, 2004 06:54am | #7

        Yeah, you just want to sand it smooth - or enough to degloss it. 

         

        Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

        1. Pierre1 | Jul 19, 2004 10:15am | #8

          The 24fl.oz. Wood Restoration Kit mfg. by Abatron Inc. of Kenosha, WI contains  of epoxy resin ('LiquidWood' tm) and an epoxy compound ('WoodEpox' tm). Use either product alone, or mix them together to any consistency, to suit your requirements.

          I restored badly rotted window stiles with good filling/absorption power, great adhesion, easy sanding, and excellent appearance once painted. I used newspaper strips to create 'dams' which kept the blend from flowing out. Customer was impressed. I made sure to square up the sash frame, as the product firms up any loose tenon that it penetrates. Solidifies in a few hours at room temp - Abatron claims it will harden 'in a few minutes with heating'. Nice.

          This was my first use of the product (had it on hand for 6 years, unopened, and it blended very easily in spite of its age), so I can not report how well it does over seasonal changes.

          Pierre

          1. ClevelandEd | Jul 20, 2004 05:24am | #10

            I'm thinking of trying the epoxy on the next window and your experince is helpful.    I bought 2 gallons of it about 10 years ago from Smith & Company,  used half of it on a sill beam.  I'll have to see if what I have left remains in usable condition. 

            I notice you talked about good absorption.  I'll try it on my windows since they are only about 1 1/8 inches thick.  When treating that 10" sillbeam it seemed that I wasn't getting enough absorption to forever connect the dryrotted material with the good wood in the beam.  I thought that I was leaving interior wood insufficiently treated and that water would be absorbed into it making the situation worse than if I had just not used any epoxy.  At least it could dry out before.  With the windows, I just don't want to make things worse in the long run.  

        2. ClevelandEd | Jul 20, 2004 05:05am | #9

          Sanding the gloss off is easy.  I'm glad that I don't have to remove it by sanding through to the wood fibers.

  2. chiefclancy | Jun 30, 2004 06:54am | #2

    Stay away from bondo, especially the one-part stuff. I tried that in a similar situation and it lost adhesiton within 12 months and flaked off. I had to peel it all off and sand the heck out of the spot, and then build it up with wood filler again before painting. Way more work than it should have been.

    1. ClevelandEd | Jul 01, 2004 05:18am | #3

      I won't buy the bondo now.  Thanks.

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