painting		PAINT & PAINTING  (by David Lawyer 1995, 2003)

Trim (starting in 2003) is Mission Brown solid color stain (Cabot
brand).  Previously was Norwood Brown from Sinclair Paints.  Except
some doors were painted with old "Rich Brown" from Fed-Cal Paints (no
longer sold It's hoped that stain will not peel off like the paint
has.  Mission Brown is almost like Norwood Brown but seems to have a
little less red in it.  Olympic (Sears and Orchard Supply Hardware)
Paint's Russet is somewhat lighter and more redish and is more akin to
the "Rich Brown" paint.  As the paint or stain fades, it changes color
much more than the difference in color of the above paints, so it
wouldn't look bad if we switched colors or used say both Mission Brown
and Russet.

Window sills (and some window sash and wood vent louvers for the
basements) have peeling paint (and peeling putty etc.) due to long
neglect and failure of past painting.  Failure may be in part due to
wood absorbing moisture from below due to crack at bottom and also due
to the porosity of the unpainted gunite.  The best solution may be to
use stain instead of paint and to use a flexible filler such as high
quality caulk.

Here's the way David S. Lawyer did it, but most of them failed in a
few years:  Scrape down to bare wood and either apply primer (if wood
is in fair shape and has only tiny hairline cracks) or apply a wood
hardener (if wood is badly cracked and/or soft due to weathering).
Use Minwax brand Wood Hardener (or Liquid Wood available only by mail
from Abatron Inc., 33 Center Dr., Gilberts, IL 60136).	Then use a
polyester wood filler such as Bondo or Evercoat.   Minwax's Wood
Filler is about the same quality (as per phone calls to Minwax and
Bondo) but costs more.	Another filler is Wood Epox from Abatron
Inc. (not used at Throop).  Paint primer over the filler.

This was suggested but not done: To prevent the final layer of paint
from cracking if the underlying base cracks again, use an elastomeric
such as "Meritone" or "Tough Patch" directly under the final paint
coat.  It will not work since the failure surface is the layer between
the polyester filler and the wood.  Thus the filler itself needs to be
elastic.

Evercoat is at Vista Paints and Home Depot.  The Bondo for autos is
the same (per phone call) as the Bondo made for wood.  Evercoat has
one type containing fiberglass which is likely different than Bondo.
Buy Minwax products at Spectra Paints on S.  Rosemead Blvd or at Home
Depot.	Hardener: $8/pint Filler: $9/can.  Minwax phone # 201-391-0253
(NJ).

One reason for peeling paint may be due to water seepage under the
window sills.  When the sun hits damp wood, it may form water vapor
under pressure which will peel the paint.  In 1996 David Lawyer
caulked the openings (cracks) under the sills.  Ones not done include
the few that have a separation (or crack) of up to a half inch under
the window sill.  These should be filled with caulk after putting wood
shims in the larger ones.

To prevent peeling of paint, one could use exterior stain instead of
paint.  Cabot "solid color oil stain" is supposedly the best but has
no Norwood Brown color.  A Cabot color about the same (but slightly
less reddish) is Mission Brown.  Due to fading, the actual color of
much trim is closer to Cabot's Oak Brown (lighter than Mission Brown).
In 2003, started using Mission Brown.