stone window ledges on Georgian House

[dino]

The stone window ledges on my house are painted black with white sash windows above. The paint on the ledges is peeling. When I strip them back they appear to have been "smoothed" with putty before painting with maybe red lead and then various coats of paint.
As some of these paints are no longer available what would you recommend for firstly preparing a smooth surface and then getting a long lasting gloss black finish?
David

 

[Ian Bond]

Hi dino

I've got a similar problem, although it is right down the bottom of the list of jobs, about number 872 I think.

My house has 'Georgian' sash windows, stone built with painted black exterior sills, flaking off and patchy.

I tried removing the paint with N*tr*m**rs and gave up pretty quickly. My excuse now is that I like the aged, characterful patina of the sills, and don't want to over-restore them. Ha!

I'm sure Mr Penrose has recommended these fellas before:

http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/index.htm

Maybe they have summat that'll shift the paint, if you want to get back to bare stone?

Do you really want a 'perfect' shiny finish, that makes the sills look new? I think I'd prefer unpainted stone, but maybe that has disadvantages too?

Ian