Painting Exterior Window Frames On Your Southwest Florida Home

Ron’s Painting, I saw your ask the experts page and thought I would utilize your service. I am painting the exterior of my home in Cape Coral, Florida and I thought while I was at it, I wanted to paint the window frames as well.  The home is an older home, and the window frames are original.  I pressure cleaned the home and washed the window frames with soap and water.  I then went to Home Depot to get advice as to what paint I should use on the window frames.  They recommended an oil-based paint, so I purchased some and painted 1 window frame.  It was terrible. I did not like the oil-based paint at all. So, I went to Lowe’s and they recommended that I use Rustoleum on the window frames.  I painted a couple window frames using the Rustoleum.  I wanted to reach out to you to see if I was using the correct products. I appreciate your help.

Unfortunately, you got a lot of bad advice from both Lowe’s and Home Depot.  The first thing they should have asked you was did you add any bleach to the soap and water.  The bleach will remove the mold and mildew from the window frames.  The person at Home Depot should have sold you a gallon of Seal Krete to apply to the window frames to seal in the chalky surface.  If you do not remove the mold and mildew and you do not seal in the chalk, then the paint will not stick. Mold will grow under the paint, and the paint will not stick to a chalky surface.

Any time you paint anything on the exterior of your home, especially in Southwest Florida, you want to use a latex paint.  I recommend using Sherwin Williams Resilience or Duration.  By using the oil-based paint, which includes the Rustoleum paint, the paint attracts mold within 30 days.  Also, as the paint fades, due to sun exposure, which happens rather quickly, the paint will start to crack and alligator. 

The frames that you have painted with the oil-based paint already, what I recommend is buying some Cover Stain, which is an oil-based bonding primer. Sand the frames to see if any of the paint you put on comes off, then apply Cover Stain that as a bonding agent on the window frames that you have painted already.  It will dry flat and will allow you to paint the latex painted on the window frames over the existing oil-based paint that you already painted.

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