My house has a variety of window and door surrounds from every period from 17th-21stC. At present they are painted black (walls are rendered and white), but this seems fairly recent, is peeling off and there are several layers of paint in places. The surfaces are either (a) Sandstone of varying quality (mostly 17th-18thC), (b) A fine smooth stone (main doorway which dates from early 19thC), (c) Concrete (20thC) and (d) a new stone surround for a restored window which I put in a few years ago. The new stone is unpainted and an attractive colour which I am seeking to match on the other windows and doors (Farrow and Ball "Mouses Back" is a pretty exact match).
So I started stripping the old paint, with the following results:
(a) Sandstone doorway has nice "ribbing", but in places (mostly towards the bottom) the surface has broken/crumbled away. Also, where the door frame has been fitted with wooden pegs, these have expanded and broken the stone away.
(b) Main doorway has a very fine smooth finish with attractive bead on the corners. On one side the stone has again been broken away by a wooden door frame peg.
(c) Concrete is sound!
This has left me pondering how best to restore and finish the old doorways.
BTW, as well as the F&B masonry paint (which the website says is breathable), I bought some of their stabilising primer.
If anyone can provide general advice or address the following questions, I would be most grateful:
So I started stripping the old paint, with the following results:
(a) Sandstone doorway has nice "ribbing", but in places (mostly towards the bottom) the surface has broken/crumbled away. Also, where the door frame has been fitted with wooden pegs, these have expanded and broken the stone away.
(b) Main doorway has a very fine smooth finish with attractive bead on the corners. On one side the stone has again been broken away by a wooden door frame peg.
(c) Concrete is sound!
This has left me pondering how best to restore and finish the old doorways.
BTW, as well as the F&B masonry paint (which the website says is breathable), I bought some of their stabilising primer.
If anyone can provide general advice or address the following questions, I would be most grateful:
- How to repair the missing stone that has been broken by the pegs? The pegs have been left exposed, but in (only) one case I have the missing bit of stone which would need to be re-shaped and refitted somehow.
- What to do about the sandstone surface which has crumbled away? Just leave it (using stabilising primer) or attempt a repair to match the ribbing elsewhere? Is the proposed paint an appropriate finish for this stone?
- Should I even paint the "fine" stone doorway, assuming I could remove all existing finishes? The stone itself is quite a light colour, which wouldn't look so great with the rest of the scheme.