Help! What is this and how can we change it?

lh339

Hi all,
we recently moved to a new home and the previous owners have coated all of the outside of our window frames and front door with this brown film/ vinyl. We’ve never seen it before but really aren’t keen on it so would like to change it.

what is it? I’ve tried googling but can’t seem to find it (probably because I don’t know the correct name). What would be the cheapies/ easiest way to change it? Can we paint over it?

many thanks.

macman

Vinyl? Just looks like a wooden hardwood frame, or softwood stained to make it darker. Something like Sadolin?
You can refinish it with whatever you want, but obviously use an exterior grade paint.

lh339

macman said:

Vinyl? Just looks like a wooden hardwood frame, or softwood stained to make it darker. Something like Sadolin?

it looks and feels like a coating of some sort that’s stuck down, as if it could be peeled off if you had something strong enough to lift it.

lh339

Ps it’s hard to tell from the photo but it’s just normal white upvc(?) on the inside

jennifernil

I very much doubt they did it themselves, plenty of window companies offer a choice of finishes on uPVC, and perfectly normal to have different finish outside from inside.   What do you not like about it?   Do all the windows and doors match?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

"never seen it before",  it just looks like one of these, prefer it to white where the silicon gets manky eventually.

cattie

It looks like woodgrain uPVC to me, something that the flats in my development have on the exterior, though a darker colour. If you're really not happy with it there are paints available that claim you can use them on uPVC windows & doors if the correct undercoat is used (such as Dulux Difficult Surfaces Primer/Undercoat. 

Personally I'd leave it as it is seeing it's the exterior. Trying to keep white uPVC on the outside looking clean is a laborious task, whereas the woodgrain isn't going to show up every single speck of dust & dirt.

Mutton_Geoff

macman said:

Vinyl? Just looks like a wooden hardwood frame, or softwood stained to make it darker. Something like Sadolin?
You can refinish it with whatever you want, but obviously use an exterior grade paint.

That isn't wood, it's uPVC windows with the optional "oak effect" on one side. It was manufactured like that.

I'd say if you've just moved in, just live there for a while before you change anything, some things you just learn to accept (nowhere is perfect) and your only choice will be to replace the windows. Painting over plastic will look awful.

lh339

jennifernil said:

I very much doubt they did it themselves, plenty of window companies offer a choice of finishes on uPVC, and perfectly normal to have different finish outside from inside.   What do you not like about it?   Do all the windows and doors match?

Thank you. I don’t just don’t like the colour and wondered if we could change it. Our previous house was a picturesque on the outside (although sadly not a feasible location), so I wondered if we could spruce this up to our taste slightly more.

rob7475

you can find companies that will wrap upvc windows in a different colour. I'm not sure what the quality would be like and how long the wrap would last. The only other option is replacing all the windows.

knightstyle

I wonder if you could paint it with special paint for painting PVC?