Here's a problem that several people have asked about, i.e. water or moisture getting onto wood, chipboard, etc causing it to swell and become both unsightly and in many cases needing replacement.

  1. Allow the wood, or chipboard to dry for a couple of days, you can aid that process by removing or turning off the source of moisture, ventilating, heat the room, etc.
  2. After the wood has reasonably dried out, sand off the main swelling using medium wet & dry sandpaper. 
  3. Next saturate the wood with several coats of Owatrol oil within a one to two-hour period. (i.e. feed the wood's pores with the oil) 
  4. Next use 240 to 320 grit wet and dry paper using your Owatrol oil as a buffing liquid to smooth the area off to a nice even finish. Left as is you will have a nice matte finish. If you'd rather have a glossy or painted finish, use any good Polyurethane varnish with about 20% Owatrol oil mixed in or a Gloss paint ditto.

Wooden window frame bottoms can be a major problem area because of gathering moisture from condensation etc. Usually, they swell and rot if not dealt with properly. Here's how to deal with a bad window frame.

  1. First, remove any putty, and dry out the wood for a few days as best you can as above. 
  2. Sand and then saturate the wood with several coats of Owatrol oil (as above). (Some people drill a small hole on the inside about 6mm at a 45-degree angle down through the bottom of the frame allowing any water etc to escape to the outside - if you decide to do this, after the wood is dry, inject the hole well with Owatrol oil to prevent moisture or water ingress) 
  3. Make sure you get the oil well into the joints and end grain areas. When the oiled wood dries after a day or so, apply your putty and smooth it off properly.
  4. Next you need to paint or varnish it, (oil based) and a good tip here is when repainting the whole window frame, apply an extra coat or two to the bottom third of your frame for extra protection. Adding about 10 to 20% Owatrol oil to your paint or varnish will help adhesion and leveling.
  5. If you want to have a clear finish on exterior wood you could use the Owatrol oil as your main prep step and then topcoat the wood with three or four coats of a Scandinavian marine clear flexible varnish called Deks Olje D2. Most of the better paint specialty stores will carry those products. As I mentioned before, if you can't locate that ever useful Owatrol, Contact us: 01 830 2250 or Email; info@igoe.ie