Repaint or replace: how to tell
Take a screwdriver and press it into the bottom rail and the sash corners. If the wood is hard and the tip won’t go in, the problem is the coating, and paint will bring the window back. If the tip sinks in easily, there’s rot inside. A painter can cut out a small patch and glue in a new piece. When half the rail is soft, it’s more honest to talk about a new window.
Look at the glazing and the hardware too. Paint won’t fix fogging between the panes or a sash that doesn’t close tight. Sort those out in the same order, before painting, so nobody scratches the fresh coat later.
What it costs and how to book: flat painting in Warsaw.
How Sikkens behaves on a frame
Sikkens enamel gives solid colour and hides old stains. A stain shows the grain, but it’s see-through, so whatever is on the frame shows through it too. That means frames get stripped further back before staining. If your windows were painted white at some point, getting a natural wood look back with a stain is close to impossible. Staying with enamel is simpler.
The inside can be painted even in winter, in a warm flat. The outside waits for dry, mild weather, since water-based coatings grip badly on cold, damp wood.
Mistakes you see a year later
- Paint on the glass. A strip of enamel along the edge looks sloppy and has to be scraped off with a blade.
- Sash corners left unsanded. Water sits there longest, so that’s where cracks start.
- Gaps between frame and wall ignored. A freshly painted frame with a draughty joint still lets in cold and condensation.
- Second coat too soon. The first is still soft inside and the surface stays tacky.
Before you post the order
- Test the frames with a screwdriver and photograph any soft spots.
- Count the windows and note any balcony door, which is painted separately.
- Pick enamel or stain and a colour. Not sure? Describe how the frames look now.
- Clear the sills and the way to the windows.
Who does the painting
Post the job in the app with the number of windows, photos of the whole frame and the problem spots, and which side needs doing. Painters who take this kind of work reply with bids: their own price and date. Compare reviews and ratings, pick one, and only then do you see each other’s phone number and address.
You settle up with the painter directly and he issues the invoice. Paint and consumables are normally bought separately from the labour. He answers for his own paintwork and redoes it if the coat fails because of him. Rot nobody could see and earlier repairs by someone else are not on him.
Order in the app
Describe the job, add photos and the address. Tradespeople send their own prices and dates, and you pick one of the offers.
Open the app
