Painting windows and exterior woodwork

Sashes and glazing bars, surrounds, bargeboards, soffits, cladding: exterior wood gives a house its drawing, and it is what suffers most. Here we recommend all four of our Multi-Surface paints, Dead Matt (5%), Eggshell (15%), Satin (40%) and Gloss (85%), on previously painted wood or on bare wood primed with our Multi-Surface Primer.

White windows, Pure White or Charterhouse, brighten a dark façade; frames in a deep grey, Artillery Ground or Downing Street, draw a contemporary house; a grey-green, Brompton Road or Chester Square, softens stone. Paint windows, shutters and door in one family: it is the rule that never fails.

Recommended finishes

Windows & woodwork

Multi-Surface Dead Matt Multi-Surface Eggshell Multi-Surface Satin Multi-Surface Gloss

Primer

Multi-Surface Primer

Our advice

A wooden window, done well

Exterior wood peels where water gets in: sound putty, dry wood, undercoat everywhere, and a fine line of paint onto the glass.

Keep the water out before the colour goes on

Image to come

Undercoat right into the rebates: that is where the water waits.

Prepare

Keep the water out before the colour goes on

Scrape blistered paint back to sound wood, sand with 120 then 180 grit, and test the wood with the tip of a screwdriver: if it sinks in, the wood is rotten and needs hardener and exterior wood filler first. Replace cracked glazing putty; that is where water gets in and where paint lifts.

On bare wood, apply our Multi-Surface Primer in the tint matched to the colour, not forgetting the edges, rebates and the underside of the bottom rails, where rain lingers. Mask the glass with tape set 1 mm back from the wood, so the topcoat runs just onto the glass and seals the joint.

Artillery Ground on the frames, Alderman on the façade.

Paint

Glazing bars, rails, stiles, frame

On a dry day, out of direct sun, between 10 and 25 °C. Paint in order: glazing bars, then horizontal rails, vertical stiles, and finally the frame and surround; a 25 mm sash brush for the bars, a 40 mm flat brush for the rest. Let the paint bite a millimetre onto the glass, and remove the tape before it has fully dried.

Two thin coats of Multi-Surface Dead Matt, Eggshell or Satin, 3–4 hours apart; leave the opening casements ajar until the next day so they do not stick. Recoat every five to seven years on south- and west-facing sides, the most exposed. Artillery Ground on the frames, Alderman on the render: sober and sharp.