Linseed oil paint?

[pieman]

As we speak my new sash windows are being fitted, they do look superb. The guy fitting has recommended that they are painted with a linseed oil paint. Does anyone know from where or who I can buy such a paint.
I am not going to try and paint them myself, can anyone recommend a painter who is experienced with painting sash windows?

Tar.

 

[Ian Bond]

A Google for "Linseed Paint" will show the main players.

I've used the Holkham stuff and they have a detailed how-to-use guide on their site.

It is a joy to use compared with modern oil-alkyd paints. Smells nice, easy to clean up after, and lovely to paint with. But you need patience, as it will not be touch dry in 4 hours, overpaintable in 18 hours.

The drying times will probably put a lot of professional decorators off from using it, so I DIY it.

Best on bare wood, but I would not remove historic lead paint that's well stuck on and doing its job. I have used linseed paint over existing paint, after the usual preparation, and it has worked fine.

Obviously if you put linseed paint over existing finishes, it will only stick as well as the earlier finish. You won't have that problem with new, unpainted windows.

I just painted the inside of a sash that had been supplied pre-primed with acrylic. Not ideal, but the 1st coat of linseed was OK to recoat after 5 days, and that coat dried in 2 days.

Despite the longer drying time, I've no intention of going back to oil-alkyd paints after using linseed. I have been very disappointed with the standard exterior timber paints, which have failed within a couple of years in places, despite meticulous preparation and careful work. I'm hoping the linseed paint will do better. Time will tell.

 

[skier-hughes]

I've used Holkham, great paint.
Very helpful company, always return emails or speak to you on the phone.

Graham

 

[biffvernon]

Great place, Holkham, but they do have a curious pricing policy for postage if you just want one can of paint.

Greenshop sell the same paint, Holkham Linseed, at the same price but charge very little for postage. I bought a can last week and it arrived within 24 hours of ordering.

 

[charlie-ia]

"over existing paint, after the usual preparation"

i wasnt sure how to treat the existing paint, (especially without sanding as its probably got lead in it), so i stripped our window to bare wood which presumably wasnt necessary. what should i have done?

 

[Ian Bond]

By stripping all the old paint off you've provided the best substrate for the linseed oil paint to bond to.

But it is a hell of a lot of work to do this if the paint is in otherwise good condition. Especially with multipaned sashes like my 8 over 8s. Thinking that you absolutely must remove all of the old paint is likely to put most people off, and is unnecessary.

Using heat risks damaging the glass and putty. Careless sanding risks scratching the glass. Paint stripper is a messy job, and it is awkward working from a ladder.

If the paint is failing anyway, it has to come off. No use painting anything over it, linseed or not.

If the old lead paint is sound, and doing a good job of preserving the timber, it does not make sense to remove it. Also, from a conservation POV, you lose the historic record of decoration.

On the other had you have to be pragmatic. If the paint is causing the window to stick, you have to fix that. The most important thing is to have the window in good repair and well painted.

However it is all academic when people rip off perfectly good (or restorable) windows and bung in uPVC!

In future, I will use linseed oil paint on all of my exterior joinery. But I will not strip back the original 1830s windows to bare wood, unless *absolutely* necessary for repair.

For the modern repro windows I'll just strip the cills, and sand the remainder well to give a good key and ensure that I'm painting onto a stable surface.

 

[charlie-ia]

what do you do if some of its ok, and some of its rubbish? my instinct would be to sand the edges. if you used water and a mask would that be the rightway to go about it?

 

[Ian Bond]

Lead is a cumulative poison, and more dangerous to growing children than adults.

Sanding a little bit of paint with lead in it won't harm you or anyone else if done carefully. Use water and wet-or-dry abrasive to minimise dust, and clear up carefully afterwards.

I would not recommend sanding large area of lead paint, and certainly not doing it indoors and getting dust everywhere.

Have a look at this document for the belt and braces approach to dealing with lead paint:

http://www.coatings.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=305&nav=293&branch=5

 

[Essex]

Try Ted Ingleby in Glemsford, Suffolk (near Sudbury).
5E Clockhouse Farm Estate
Cavendish Lane
Glemsford
Sudbury C010 7PZ
01787 280864.
We've used his and it is great to work with.