Wooden Conservatory

[Teejay]

Hello there, I have a wooden conservatory which needs retreating as the paint/varnish previously used has started cracking and flaking away.

I have sanded as much of the old paint/varnish away and have been left with a few areas which I cannot sand like the detailing on the doors which have several glass panes and fancy wood detailing dividing the panes.

Question 1: How do I approach sanding of the detailed parts?
Question 2: What is the white hard stuff which has fallen out between the wood frames and the glass panes? What do I replace this with?

I plan to paint the conservatory on the weekend and need to make sure I have everything prepared. I have applied a wood treatment this evening and this will allow 2-3 days (as recommended) for it to get into all the pores of the wood.

 

[Fat ferret]

No easy answer with sanding. Just make the best shape sanding blocks you can to get into corners.

The hard white stuff is probably linseed putty. You should replace it with... (drum roll) linseed putty, which is lovely stuff 8) . The bartoline putty has excellent instructions on the back of the tub. I use a chisel to apply the stuff cause the chisel back is smooth, you can lubricate with linseed oil if it's not working as you want. Take your time and knead the putty well before starting.

I take it it's single glazing. The putty is hard to paint well. Leave it as long as you can and prime it properly.

 

[blackrodd]

Mask the glass areas adjacent to the detailing you wish to sand as scratched glass looks really bad.
The green kitchen scourers will be useful here, to make shapes or even shape bits of steel from a discarded
handsaw to scrape with and get all the loose flakey stuff off.
Take out any hard putty, that's left without damaging the glass, as this will just leak.
If you buy the putty, Whatever size pot you have bought, take it ALL out and thoroughly mix it on several sheets of news paper until it is all one smooth consistency and no evidence of oil left as its all in the mix.
Any other way and you'll get in real trouble as it's sticky, useless stuff like that!
Brush the dust out of the rebates and prime with a good silver exterior primer, I use Dulux,
Acrylic is for fast interior work and not external work.
Putty will dry out too quick on hungry, or untreated timber, and this makes for dry failing putty too.
Putty the rebates when the primer is dry, I use a putty knife,
Using a very soft brush, carefully Prime as soon as you can, without disturbing the putty, you may find the birds love it!
Undercoat, and top coat as usual.
When in the right frame of mind, I love jobs like that!
HTH Regards Rodders

 

[Teejay]

Thank you both for your help, I have just ordered some more supplies in anticipation. So just to clarify, remove old putty and brush out debris from gap left, paint with primer to prevent wood from drying out putty prematurely before it has had time to cure naturally, actually apply putty to seal gap between glass and wood and once putty had cured prime again before painting.

 

[blackrodd]

Thank you both for your help, I have just ordered some more supplies in anticipation. So just to clarify, remove old putty and brush out debris from gap left, paint with primer to prevent wood from drying out putty prematurely before it has had time to cure naturally, actually apply putty to seal gap between glass and wood and once putty had cured prime again before painting.

Yep! With a bit of care you're job will look really good, as said before preparation is most of the work and sets the standard of the finished job.
Regards Rodders

 

[toast]

id just fold up some sandpaper and use that to do the edges and use your thumb/finger placement on the sandpaper to stop it touching the glass.
the best tool ive used for puttying, i got shown it by a old boy, is a 5" bit of copper pipe with the end flattened and slightly bent with a hammer lol , it works much better that a putty knife