sanding and painting wooden windowsill

[maryos]

I would be grateful for any advice regarding painting over wood. I am about to paint the windowsill (interior) in my kitchen. There used to be tiles on this windowsill: I have removed the bonding that held the tiles (by soaking and scraping / chiselling this off) and am down to the raw wood. Although I tried to be careful, the windowsill is inevitably now looking very worn and the wood is far from smooth (some areas are rough and splintery). I am expecting to sand this (any tips gratefully received) and then prime before painting with gloss paint. Is there anything else that I should do? Does anybody have any tips on how best to get a neat, finished surface?
Thank you very much!

 

[Albopalbo]

Hey Maryos,

I'm just coming to the end of a renovation where I had to sand and paint 8 window frames. You've got pretty much covered in what you said. Just give them a good sanding and get them as flat as you can as gloss paint shows up EVERY imperfection. I'd blast it with a random orbit sander.

If there are any really deep knocks which would require you sanding down tonnes of wood to get flat then you can fill them, but use car body filler as it's tougher (and a windowsill will need to be tough) Other than that just prime n paint. Mine had dark wood and needed a good 4 coats of undercoat before glossing. Remeber - it's better to do 4 thin coats than do 3 thick.

Another option could be to replace the sill, or use some nice new hardwood on top of the existing windowsill. Just an idea.

Hope this helps..