Help covering many varnished doors/windows

[Solyom]

Quick bit of background.
I'm an expat living in a small Hungarian village and a 71 year old friend of mine has asked me to make these windows & doors look better.

Originally she wanted me to "just varnish over them" I explained it wouldn't last long and certainly wouldn't look good!

As she doesn't want to spend the money stripping off the old varnish (and I don't fancy the job as there are 80 panels) I have suggested painting them.

She has a sense of humour "I'm 71, I don't need them to last 20 years!"

What would be the best, easiest, most cost effective way to cover the woodwork. Would undercoat plus topcoat be ok or should I use a primer?

Many thanks in advance

 

[emilybronte]

Thanks for posting the photos - they are really useful.

If you decide to paint them, you would not need to strip off all the old varnish, but you would need to sand off all the loose/flaking bits to provide a smooth key for the new paint system.

Then you'd need to use an aluminium primer (to stop the old stain/varnish bleeding through the new paint - something like this : http://www.diytools.co.uk/rustins-a...uct-Search&gclid=COSu1u6dibACFSYhtAodNxCEOg), then undercoat and two topcoats of a good quality exterior gloss paint (such as Dulux Weathershield or Leyland Trugard).

Good luck! (I hope she's paying you - it will take a fair while!)

 

[Solyom]

Thanks for the reply, she is paying (not enough lol but she's a friend and we don't have a lot to do here!) will give it a go and post pics in.........eons lol
Now all I have to do is try to tell a Hungarian I want Alu primer lol

but Dulux is available here,