old beams old house

[parrissouth]

Hi there, can anybody advise me as to which paint is the best to use for painting original 13th century wooden wall and ceiling beams. The beams are obviously black some are gloss some are matt. Would it be best to apply a grey undercoat first or only if the old paint is in a really bad state? Is there a specialised paint for this work? Also the black paint on the window frames which prob have not been painted for 10 years have a sticky feel to the touch, what would be the best way to seal these b4 repainting.Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards in advance Paul.

 

[Zampa]

I would go for flat black oil based paint on the beams...or black undercoat if you can find it.

As for the sticky frames...I will go to bed tonight and say a prayer to the sky daddy that its not old bitumen.

Have you tried washing them down?....it might just be greasy/dirt.

If the stickyness is in isolated patches it could be resin coming out of the wood....does it smell like a fresh pine smell?....if thats the case...scrape them back and put knotting on them before you paint.

You never know what people use to paint with....ive had someone use boot polish........i'll say it again......BOOTPOLISH!....... to stain a door before it was varnished...then lo an behold the varnish didnt dry!

If the problem is all over then i'd say you should strip the paint off....its risky putting sealer over it....I dont know of any sealer that is for sticky paint work

And before anyone suggests it......NO PVA WONT WORK!