Peeling paint on shutters

[Kathy]

Please see photos. I need to do something about the state of the paintwork on two windows. They are single glazed and south facing. Painted maybe 25 years ago. It's only this year the problem has arisen with flaking paint on the shutters, the glazing bars have been getting worse but ignored... I would appreciated your thoughts on whether my plan to address the situation is sound. I am not much of a DIY-er but I think I can handle this. I have other windows with some paint chipping around the glazing bars but those shutters are fine.

Re the shutters and flaking paint. I don't want to strip for many reasons. I plan to sand and paint. I will be painting with F&B eggshell over what is probably an acrylic eggshell base. Should be fine as long as I do a thorough job of sanding?

Re the glazing bars. I would strip back to bare wood with paint stripper, sand and paint with F&B eggshell. The last decorator took the paint onto the glass for added protection (I guess). I've attached a photo where you can see a fuzzy strip - that's where I prodded one area and a big chunk came off completely to the glass edge. I am worried if I strip right back around all the glazing bars like that the glass will fall out. He overpainted the outside. Should I use some kind of filler once I get all the paint off the glazing bars?

Appreciate your suggestions and advice. Thanks.

 

[fernicarry]

For the shutters I'd probably start with sanding and see what sort of a surface you get back to. Often times with a crumbly coating you are better off just biting the bullet and stripping completely because you can never sand it back to perfectly flat. My OCD doesn't allow me to paint over the craters left by paint chips... It looks like you've already tried a bit of sanding so why not slap some new paint on that area and see what it looks like. I suspect the cracks will still be discernible unless you are using a very matt paint.

You can quite quickly strip a wide flat surface with a carbide scraper but moulded profiles are always going to be a faff and you risk damaging the profile with just about any approach. I often take a hybrid approach where I strip the flat bit and sand the profile provided I can get a decent edge between the stripped and still painted bits.

On the window sashes I guess the paint was never particularly well adhered to the putty bed and in conjunction with condensation running down and collecting there its started coming off in lumps. There's no danger of the glass falling out from the inside, its fitted from the outside. Its a difficult area to prep so your idea of using paint stripper may be worth trying or again go at it carefully with a small carbide scraper. Scrapers work really well where you've already got a raised edge like that.

Do you intend to strip the whole sash or just the tops of the rails? Chemical strippers aren't always all that precise and you can end up softening the paint in places you didn't intend to and things snowball. Some kinds also need to be rinsed off and neutralised to stop them reacting with the new paint which is messy to do in situ. Fair enough if you can completely remove the sash and hose it down outside. I've also had a bad experience with a caustic stripper actually eating away some of the soft grain in the wood. Chemical strippers are a last resort for me now.

Personally I hate seeing paint on glass but it is necessary on the outside to paint just a little bit past the putty to seal it onto the glass. There might be the same argument on the inside but I generally stop a couple of mill short of the glass because it looks neater. Water based paints hate sticking to new putty anyway.

What is it you think you might need to fill?

Whatever approach you take make sure you use good PPE and have plenty of ventilation as you could be exposing older nasty stuff.

 

[mardinor]

Putty is one area where modern products are far better than traditional, without damaging original fabric.
Wholeheartedly recommend RepairCare Dry Seal MP White. Expensive but can be overpainted quickly, whereas putty needs to be left a month or so and fails by cracking.

PS shutters eminently sandable. Modern paint stripper is useless. Careful with carbide not to gouge the wood, and can get curved blades from Bahco that are great on mouldings