Should I strip my sash windows right back to bare wood?

[hangoninaminute]

I'm having my sash windows sorted soon and the things the company who's doing it don't do is strip all the paint off and paint them once refurbished.
What are your thoughts on stripping them completely and then painting? Worth it? Risky because of lead paint? If no, what should I do?

Why won't they paint them? We are mid refurbishment of sashes and the guys are painting inside and out. They sand it back and fill with wood filler if required, prime, sand, paint, sand and then paint. This is as well as them refurbing, draught proofing etc. We had a fair few quotes and I wanted them painted inside and out when they were doing all the carpentry work - surely its a much better finish. Didn't consider using people who didn't offer decoration. Obviously you pay for it - either by refurbishing guys, a separate decorator or in your own time. If you do it yourself invest in a good mask when sanding back.

how old are they?

They just don't do it. I like what they have to offer with the refurbishment but I'm happy to paint them myself. I'll have to all the other times they'll need painting so may as well start now and every penny we save means more of the house can be renovated quicker. It is an 1870 cottage and the previous owner has told us they are original. We believe nothing has been done to them since the 70s/80s at least.

Ok I don't think you need to strip them right back to bare wood though. A good and hearty sanding should suffice. Anyway they will prob so a lot of the sanding and filling as part of the refurbishment.

We have stripped sash windows in our bedroom and I love it - the walls are white to it gives a bit of warmth. Our spare bedroom has white painted which goes well with the decor in that room though!

If you think there is lead paint in there (which there probably is) you shouldn't be dry sanding them more than you have to. Chemical strippers or wet sanding are much better.

How many times have they been painted? Ours are a bit older than yours, but we have recovered an awful lot of detail by stripping them back - tedious beyond belief, but worth it in the end.

I wonder what sort of refurb they are doing if not stripping the paint off.

I would hope they are removing the glass and old putty. I wonder if they are cleaning and regluing/rewedging the tenons.

Without taking the paint off, I don't see how they can be sure they have cut out and replaced any rotten wood, unsatisfactory repairs, or spotted timber replaced with filler and painted over. How can they make the beads a close sliding but weatherproof fit?

Or are they just renovating the weights, cords and rollers?

Once they start rubbing down any filler or rot will be apparent I have had lots if sashes done and they don't all strip right back but once sanded they are pretty bare and bits do fall off!

They sound as though they will be doing quite a lot to the windows. Replacing cracked window panes, putty work, new window sills, new cords, weights etc, replacing all rotten wood and replacing with new and draught proofing them. I remember asking the question of what state they will be in when finished and he said all new wood will be primed but they will not sand down the other parts of the window, we would have to do this and they don't provide a painting service as standard. They recommended not to sand because of lead paint but there is many layers of paint on them and I want a really good finish so I thought I would ask here for a few opinions.