Painting Your Interior Window Trim

Before the warm weather leaves us in Victoria BC, it’s a good idea to check the interior paint around your windows. It's not like you need to know how often you shoud paint your Victoria BC home. The paint here can require repainting more often than other parts of your interior home, because the paint can get damaged from frequent opening and closing. It can also be affected by temperature changes. Since you will have to open your windows to repaint them, pick a day when you don’t expect rain and following these steps. You should use a 100% acrylic latex paint, with a high gloss or semi-gloss finish.

First: remove all curtains, hooks, and other hardware, then clean the surfaces. The next steps differ depending on the type of window.

For windows that swing in and out (called casement windows):

Open the window, then paint the bottom, top, and side edges.
Paint the frame casings and the crossbars.
Paint the sill and the apron (the piece that extends below the sill)

For windows that slide up and down (double-hung windows) (note that ‘sash’ refers to a moveable section of the window):

Lower the lower sash and raise the upper sash most of the way, leaving about a six-inch overlap. Paint the horizontal part on the bottom of the upper sash, then paint the sides of the upper sash as much as possible.
Close the upper and lower sashes almost completely, and finish painting the upper sash.
Paint the lower sash completely.
Allow all of the paint to dry.
Paint the window frame.
Close the window, and paint all parts of the runners that are exposed. Be careful around sash cords, as paint on them could limit their ability to function.
Paint the apron and sill.

Once all paint has dried, check if any paint has gotten into a seam between the outer frame and the inner window frame (such as the sashes). If there is any, put a razor blade through the area. Paint in these areas can impede on your ability to open and close the windows.

We hope this guide has been helpful, and welcome you to contact us for any interior and exterior paint projects in Victoria BC you may have in the coming season.