Exterior Painting - wooden bay window

[kaylie]

So all of our windows are vinyl replacements except for our wood bay window which is almost definitely original to our mid-80s house. There was some wood rot on it before we moved in, but we had the sellers fix it. I don't know how they fixed it, but it looks/feels sound now and we know the original damage had not penetrated to the interior.

We will almost definitely be having it replaced in the future. We could probably keep it there for another decade, but five years is more likely. I want to do what I can to keep it in good shape. We've already cut down the giant rhododendron that was blocking the sun and keeping it wet and I'm going to paint it white.

Any suggestions for the best product to use? Right now the wood looks to be in pretty decent condition. There is no cracking or peeling and I can probably just paint right over it.

I'm wondering if using a solid deck stain in white would be a good idea since it has water proofing properties?

[FoxInFiji]

I'd stick to a paint. It's more protective than a stain which is thinner and meant to soak into the wood. Paint sits on top and take the brunt of the weather so the wood doesn't have to. The only problem is that it flakes and doesn't take wear as well so that is why people don't normally paint their decks...except for the dumb previous owners of our house.

We've had to repaint the wood windows on the sides of our house with smaller overhangs multiple times. Scrap everything as good as you can. A wire brush helps get small flakes and gives you a bare surface to paint on. Then take some outdoor wood putty (or they also make this "plastic wood" filler stuff) to patch up any cracks or holes. Paint two coats free handing the edges. And then caulk the seams of the window to freshly painted trim. Stick with 100% silicone exterior caulk.

We've also had to patch/fix the sills of some windows that had begun to rot. We dug and cut out all of the rotten parts with the help of a Sonicraft. Then we replaced the sill with a piece of PVC trim cut to size and milled to have a taper. We also patched with the plastic wood filler in rotten areas on the side. The wood filler stuff took multiple layers to match the profile of our existing trim. We used a dremel and sandpaper to get a smooth finish. When it's all painted and caulked it looks great. We'll eventually replace those windows in a couple years but they've held up great for the last year and a half. Previously we had to paint those windows every year because there was always water sitting on the sills. Eventually we'll be replacing the windows completely and are having a nice aluminum clad sill that comes with the windows but for now it works.
....So my point is the fixed rotten areas may not be completely wood and therefore a stain wouldn't work on them.

[kaylie]

Fox comes to the rescue again! Alright, paint it is. I know there are some anti-mildew additives you can put in the paint so I might try one of those as well. Thanks Fox!