Restoring period woodwork in Brighton homes

How to tell when period woodwork is clogged with old paint

Most of the period homes I work in around Brighton and Hove have their original joinery still in place. The skirting, the door architraves, the staircase spindles and the plaster cornice are part of what makes the house what it is. The trouble is that a lot of them have been painted every few years for a hundred years, and each coat softens the detail a little more.

You can usually see it straight away. A crisp ogee moulding on a skirting board turns into a soft, rounded ridge. The fine steps of a cornice fill in until they read as one lump. Doors stop closing cleanly because the paint has built up in the rebate. When it gets to that point, another coat only makes it worse, and the honest answer is to take it back.

I do not strip everything as a matter of course. If the paint is sound and the detail is still there, a good sand and repaint is the right call. Stripping is for the sections where the profile has genuinely been lost, or where the paint is flaking and failing and there is no solid base to work onto.

• Mouldings that look soft and rounded instead of sharp and stepped
• Doors and windows that bind because paint has built up in the rebates
• Flaking or crazed paint with no sound layer underneath
• Fine detail on cornice or spindles filled in until it reads as one shape

Stripping back to reveal the moulding: sanding, heat and chemical

Flat runs like the face of a skirting board or a door panel take sanding well, worked up through the grades so I am not leaving scratch marks that show through the finish. I keep the dust down and work steadily, because the point is to take the paint off, not to sand away the timber and lose the arris on the edges.

A heat gun is quick on thick, built-up paint on solid sections, but it wants care. Too much heat scorches the wood and, on an older house, you have to be mindful of what is behind the joinery. I keep it moving and never leave it sitting in one place.

For the intricate parts, the spindles, the deep mouldings, the cornice, a chemical stripper is usually the kindest. It softens the paint so it can be lifted out of the detail with the right tools rather than gouged out, which is what protects the crisp profile. Near original plaster cornice I am especially careful, because that detail cannot be sanded back and is easily damaged. The method follows the section, not the other way round.

• Sanding worked through the grades for flat faces and panels
• A heat gun for thick paint on solid sections, kept moving to avoid scorching
• Chemical stripper for spindles, deep mouldings and cornice to protect the detail
• Extra care near original plaster cornice, which cannot be sanded back

Repairing, sealing and priming: the products I actually use

Once the woodwork is stripped back, the damage shows. Old joinery picks up splits, gouges, nail holes and the odd missing section of moulding over the years. For anything structural I use a two-part high-performance wood filler. You mix it, it cures hard, and it can be sanded, shaped and even re-moulded to match the original profile, which a soft general-purpose filler cannot do. On a lost corner of skirting or a chunk out of an architrave, that is what rebuilds it so you cannot see the join.

Knots and old stains are the next thing to deal with, because if you do not seal them they bleed straight through the new paint months later. On any live knots I put a knotting solution over them first. Then, over knots, water stains and any old discolouration, I use Zinsser B-I-N. It is a shellac-based primer that blocks tannin and resin and stops stains coming through, and nothing else I have used seals a stubborn knot as reliably. It is the product that stops a brown ring reappearing through a fresh white skirting.

The last preparation step is the crisp line where the skirting or architrave meets the wall. I run a bead of decorator's caulk into that gap and tool it off clean, so the finished woodwork sits against the wall with a sharp, straight edge and no ragged shadow line.

• Two-part high-performance wood filler for splits, gouges and missing sections of moulding
• Knotting solution over any live knots before priming
• Zinsser B-I-N shellac primer to seal knots, water stains and old bleed
• Decorator's caulk along the skirting and architrave lines for a crisp edge

Finishing period woodwork in eggshell or satinwood

With the woodwork stripped, repaired, sealed and primed, the finish is the straightforward part. On period skirting, architraves and doors I usually go for eggshell or satinwood rather than a full gloss, because the lower sheen suits older joinery and does not show every ripple in timber that is a hundred years old. I build it up in proper coats, sanding lightly between them, so the final surface is smooth and even.

The main choice is water-based against oil-based. Water-based eggshell has come a long way, it stays whiter and yellows far less over time, and it is quicker to recoat, which matters in a lived-in home. Oil-based is harder-wearing and flows out beautifully, although it can amber over the years, especially in a room that does not get much light. On a high-traffic skirting or a family staircase I will often lean oil-based for durability, on a bright drawing room I lean water-based to keep the colour true. I use the brands I trust for this work: Little Greene, Farrow and Ball, Dulux and Johnstone's, matched to the colour and the room.

Done this way, the original mouldings come back crisp, the knots stay sealed and the finish holds for years, and the house keeps the character it was built with. If you have period woodwork in Brighton or Hove that has been buried under decades of paint, I am fully insured and have been restoring period joinery locally for around 20 years. ask for an estimate with a couple of photos and I will come and take a look.