Discolorations (mildew?) on wood windowsill in bathroom - what to do?

Question

I recently moved into a house that was built in the 1920s and "renovated" several times since. There is a window in the bathroom, right next to the shower/tub. The window frame has been painted over several times, and, as it is an old chain-style window, no longer opens because of the layers of paint and years of disuse.

During an initial deep-cleaning of the house, I noticed some dark brownish-black spots on the windowsill. They do not come off with either Windex, Scrubbing Bubbles, or bleach, and no amount of scrubbing has changed their size or shape. 

I don't know very much about mildew (I try to keep things ultra-clean, so I've never seen it!), but is that what this is? Is there a way to remove this, or is my best option just to clean it as much as possible and paint yet another layer on so it doesn't look so terrible?

Yup Yup Yuppers · Accepted Answer

Start sanding.  Sand all those layers of paint off.  Prepare to get a sore arm!  If you can find a hand-held electric sander, that's better, even though you will still have to do some of it by hand.  Once you've sanded it down to the wood, put a coat of a primer called "Killz" on it.  This will lock in all the mold and stains so they can't spread.  Then, once that's dried, you just paint it the color you want.  Ask the paint store to help you choose the right paint type for bathroom.  I use the high gloss.

Brianna · Answer

Ok, take some white vinegar and some baking soda and mix with some water. About a half cup of vinegar to a half cup of water and about 3 tbsp of baking soda. Mix it up and lay it on the wood. Leave it there for about 20 minutes and thencome back and wipe clean. Should remove it, if not all gone, then try it again to remove remainder. 

Once it is gone, if you don't kill it off and just repaint it can eat through th epaint and destroy the wood. Once you kill it, then go get KILLZ primer that keeps mold from growing. But before you paint you'll want all of that wood to fully dry. That means not using that shower or tub for a month. If you paint moisture in, you'll end up with rot. Then paint the Killz on it and you should be ready to paint over it when it dries. 

Good luck.

Jeannine M · Answer

You probably won't be able to get the old stains out of the wood and will have to repaint, but there is a primer on the market, that has an anti-mildew agent in it.  I also own an old house and our bathroom was the same.  I've painted the bathroom over the years, but never had to worry about the window frame and sill again.  I think it's Bin primer.

Anonymous · Answer

paint over it with KILZ and put up a shwer curtain to protect in the future

BERT · Answer

I second all these Kilz answers and I would also recommend covering this sill with tile.

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Discolorations (mildew?) on wood windowsill in bathroom - what to do?

5 Answers