Painting strategy.

[Zebra]

My linseed oil paint needs redoing where it's in full sun, after five years (well, it probably it a year ago, so call it four) - just the sills really. It looks similar to yours, Me! It's too late in the year now so I've sanded it down and applied linseed oil (and can do that again through the winter if need be) and will do it next year.

 

[wobs]

To give the full story though I must be fair and say that I do have one hardwood frame on the same south facing wall and the linseed paint on that has lasted longer at about 6 or 7 years before needing repainting. But that window is the attic room and the frame is partially sheltered by the overhang of the gable end so I don't know if it is the different wood or the slight additional shelter that has made that paint last longer.

I suspect its the wood.
My last house is two streets away from our current house, and the front bay is south facing. I painted it in red linseed paint, and the last time I checked it was ok. Plenty of sun, and being in an urban environment, gets a bit of dirt blown across it as well. Its a hardwood frame, installed in 2003, but painted in linseed paint in 2011/12.

Paint was Alback.

What is interesting is that my current house is a mish-mash of wood (new softwood frames, repaired hardwood and accoya) when it comes to frames, and I am in the process using Linseed Paint Company linseed paint, which is a different beast. It looks ok so far, but given I started the jobs in 2013, its a bit early to tell, but the front door still looks good, which is south facing (but not much sun).

I'll be doing this for a long time to come no matter what paint I use.

 

[wobs]

Double post.
No idea how that happened.

 

[88v8]

South facing is a test for any paint. Especially in dark colours due to the thermal gain.
Our previous house, I painted mostly in Magnet lead, on the north front the sitting room window which was well shaded by shrubs lasted thirty years. Upstairs on the north, perhaps ten years.
On the southerly box sashes the Light Brunswick Green on the boxes was cracked after a couple of years, the Country Cream on the sashes lasted a bit better.

Similar story with Sikkens AZ which succeeded the lead, to the south and west it did not really last. Although better than the Farrow & Balls that I foolishly tried, which barely got through 12 months.

I've called a halt with one of the windows here, it has sufficient linseed on it to get through the winter. The other I still need to finish, or at least the sill which has had a bodge repair involving resin and sawdust, but the builders are making so much dust that I can't even think about painting.

Allback say their paint will require a refresh with linseed after five years. If it were just a matter of applying a 50/50 of linseed and turps, that wouldn't be too onerous. Even every year.

Ivor

 

[Me!]

Allback say their paint will require a refresh with linseed after five years.

Well that is interesting, because when Holkham used to sell Allback paint they said "The pigment then over the years gradually oxidizes with the environment and brushes off, in so doing it fades after 6 to 8 years and becomes chalky after 12 to 15 years. It can be revitalized with a coat of warm raw linseed oil or at worst a single coat of linseed paint" and then went on to talk about a 12 year repainting cycle.

It was the hope of something at least approaching 12 years that led me to use linseed paint, but for all the hassle of drying times it just isn't worth it to me for just 5 years of life. Even if the Jotun were to only last two and a half years, then I'd still rather repaint with Jotun every two and a half rather than linseed every five.

But I agree that it is the sun on the south-facing bits that is the problem. Allback are based in Sweden and Linseed Paint Company in Glasgow, and neither of those places gets anything like the intensity of sun that we get here in Suffolk or presumably also in "Glorious Gloucs"!