# Forum Home Renovation Painting  Preserving my old timber windows

## ErrolFlynn

I'm about to paint timber window frames (probably about 30 or more years old). I was planning on undercoating, then top coating, but is there any product you might recommend as a sealer, prior to painting? Gaps are appearing between adjacent timbers in the frames (all those little bits of beading that hold the fly screen in place etc.) and I'm thinking the gaps may be letting water into where there's no paint and causing things to warp and rot. 
The woodwork in the windows isn't actually throwaway rotten as yet, but I can see that it's past its best. The existing paint flakes off easily. Some of it peels off like it has dried but never stuck to anything. Possibly because the job wasn't prepared well when done last. In a few years' time, aluminium windows will be going in. I want to make sure the current windows will last a couple of years in the meantime. 
The timber in the window is actually in very nice condition. I know this because I was planing it to make it fit the frame. Things are getting out of square and it was jammed shut. Beautiful wood on the windows. So, there'll be no problem painting that. 
The thing is, now that I've got some of the paint off, the window frame appears to be damp. That's after I peeled the paint off. Some of the wood looks hairy in places. I suspect that's the wood fibres giving up their cohesion and starting to rot. Though when I poke a screwdriver into it, it seems solid enough. 
I don't have time to let it sit and dry out for a few weeks. Anyway, it rains every other day or there's a heavy due.  It's a coastal location. My chances of letting it dry may be limited.

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## johnc

I prefer to put an oil based undercoat on first then water based then something like weathershield on top. For old style sash windows oil based is a better optiion for the top coat

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