I am in the process of doing the trim and finishing my new Marvin fiberglass casement windows and need some advice.
The interior of the windows are pine and the operating mechanism for the casement is concealed with some “hollow” pine stop moldings.
When the window is open the interior of the “hollow” stop moldings is exposed to the elements and since a few windows are south facing and may be left open accidentally during a rainstorm I want to protect the inside of the stop moldings where the operating mechanism is concealed.
The rest of the wood work was sprayed with seal coat shellac and transtint dye and will be topcoated with water based polyurethane.
What should I do on the area that conceals the operating mechanism to protect if from accidental exposure to rain and sun?
The only idea I can come up with is to try to mask off the critical areas of the operatiing mechanism to keep them from getting gummed up and spray the interior with shellac and polyurethane like the outside. Given the tight spaces and narrow access I am thinking my little hobbyists airbrush (for painting model planes ,etc) is my best choice.
The other concern is that if the polyurethane starts to deteriorate over time I won’t be able to sand it to prep for recoating it as there is no access to the inside of the stop moldings.
Even though the interior will be a natural wood finish am I better off spraying paint inside the stop moldings to improve the longevity and simplify recoating it in the future should in be necessary?
I feel like I am waaaay overthinking this and “making a mountain out of a molehill” but it just doesn’t seem right to leave that area unprotected.
Thanks,
Karl
Replies
Isn't there any way to get those moldings off? Seems like there must be, so if you needed to access the mechanism you could. Anyway, I myself, would avoid polyurethane as it cracks when exposed to UV. Maybe there is some new stuff with lots of UV blockers in it. Old fashioned varnish like "varathane" (I've used Hellmsman)often has UV protection and is a more flexible varnish.
The only other thing I was thinking was that on the inside of the molding you could even use enamel, because no one will really see it. I would prime (enamel undercoat) and paint, if i could get a brush in there. Another thing that would give some protection, but may also gum up the mechanism if you aren't careful is just oil, or oil/varnish mixed. If you could find an oil that doesn't get gummy, that would be nice--maybe just mineral oil? Don't really know.
Good suggestion on taking off the stop moldings. They are easy enough to remove though prone to splitting if I am not careful. I will go ahead and paint the inside surfaces. The trick is not to let it build up so much it prevents the parts from reassembling with tight joints.Thanks for the input.Karl