Well it’s all going to depend on the size and the design of the wood window, but you can plan on spending quite a bit of time, painting these intricate architectural items.
Let me give you an idea, I had to paint 7 wood windows, one time and these didn’t have any architectural details to them, they were simply plain old wood windows. The type of windows that were installed through out the 1950s and would need to be replaced or repaired, in the near future.
You’re going to find this hard to believe, but I used to paint the outside of the house, a small house, for $300, and a homeowner would supply me with the paint. I had to buy the rest of the materials, but I could paint the exterior of these small homes, in about a day and a half.
Except for the wood windows, this was a totally different story and I wouldn’t paint the wood windows each time I painted the house. I would often touch the windows up, but the amount of time that it would usually take me to paint these windows, was unbelievable.
Keep something in mind here, I could paint the entire house in about 12 hours, but it would take me about the same amount of time, just to paint the exterior of these windows and more than half of them wouldn’t open, because they were previously painted shut.
If the wood window has any sort of architectural detail, or any grids or divided lites, you could plan on spending quite a bit of time, painting each window. If you’ve never painted a wood window before, plan on spending at the least four to six hours, for window smaller than 3′ x 3′ and plan on spending at least eight to 12 hours, or more, for larger wood windows.
If you’re a contractor, who’s going to be bidding a job, you might want to contact a professional painter or at least get someone else’s opinion, before signing the contract.
If you’re a homeowner, and you hire a professional painter and they gives you a ridiculous bit, now you know why.
