Woodwork moves, weathers and carries decades of old paint. Getting a finish to hold means reading the condition of the timber and preparing each part accordingly — not just glossing over what's there.
Start by taking the surface back
Wherever old paint is loose, flaking or heavily built up, it's scraped, sanded or burnt off as needed to get back to a sound, even base. Built-up paint on a sash or a panelled door blurs the detail and fails unevenly, so it pays to take it down properly before rebuilding the finish.
Deal with knots, cracks and gaps
- Knots in softwood weep resin that bleeds through paint, so bare knots are sealed before priming.
- Cracks and blemishes are filled with a two-part wood filler, which sets hard and holds far better than a soft interior filler on timber that flexes.
- On exterior frames, any loose or perished putty is raked out and renewed so the glazing line stays weathertight.
- Bare or new timber is primed so the system has a sound foundation to build on.
Rotten timber needs more than filler
Soft, decayed wood — common on the bottom rails of sashes, door frames and fascia boards — won't hold paint or filler on its own, and painting over it just hides the problem until it spreads. We treat decay with a wet-rot wood hardener that binds and hardens the decaying fibres into a solid base, then reshape the area with a two-part filler. Where the rot is too far gone, the section is cut out and rebuilt with new timber rather than patched.
Building the finish
Once the timber is sound and primed, the coats go on in order: one or two coats of undercoat depending on condition, then the finish — eggshell, satinwood or gloss inside, and gloss outside over the right exterior system. Where clients would rather avoid the smell and fumes of oil paint indoors, we can finish interior woodwork in water-based products that have come a long way in durability.
The short version
Take it back, seal the knots, fill with the right filler, harden or replace any rot, prime, then undercoat and finish. Period woodwork repays that care with a finish that looks right and lasts.