So, being on lockdown and having more time available to get some of those pressing little DIY jobs done, I decided to strip down the old redundant timber door at the front of our house. Reconfiguration sometime back in the 1970’s i imagine resulted in our front door being moved to the side gable wall of the property, the old door was boarded over with tongue & groove and left as an ode I guess. Anyway, its been around 8 years since it was last painted, and it had decided in the absence of any subsequent loving, that it would start to strip itself, leaving me to finish the job.
I have never been a fan of solvent based paints, and tend to go towards anything natural. Internally in my house I use #Earthborn paints, (https://earthbornpaints.co.uk) which are clay based paints and contain mainly natural ingredients, these have little odour, they perform outstandingly and go onto walls a little like using double cream, to top it off, everything is easily washed out by plain water.
When it came to choosing an outdoor paint, I naturally looked for something similar which could be used externally on timber. Sadly #Earthborn do not currently offer such a product for timber, although they do for external walls.
2 years ago I attended a #CIOB conservation conference at Somerset House in London, where I met the chaps from @OricalcumPaint.
Oricalcum, now known as Brouns & Co. (https://www.linseedpaint.com/) make and supply linseed paints and any accessory you could possibly need to apply it. The paint is all natural and uses a linseed oil base and zinc oxide pigments to create a non toxic, low odour paint, that looks after your timber by hydrating the timber and protecting it from weathering, whilst permitting the two-way transfer of humidity instead of trapping moisture under an impermeable film.
The paint goes on easily, the first coat can be watered down with raw linseed oil and turpentine if required for really absorbent surfaces, whilst subsequent coats are straight from the can.
Future maintenance consists of one coat of warmed linseed oil after around 6 years to bring back the gloss, and a further coat of linseed paint after around 15 years, really extending those maintenance periods and making painting a real pleasure.
As with clay paint, clean up is easy and needs no toxic chemicals using linseed soap, brushes can also be stored in raw linseed oil which will clean the brush over time.
More information can be found about the benefits of linseed paint here, I like to recommend paints and treatments to my clients, but I generally only do so when I have tested them out myself, I am certainly sold on linseed and would never go back to solvent!.
