diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 2bae28ec9..142834916 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 WeeChat ChangeLog
 =================
 Sébastien Helleu <flashcode@flashtux.org>
-v0.4.0-rc1, 2013-01-04
+v0.4.0-rc1, 2013-01-05
 
 
 Version 0.4.0 (under dev!)
 --------------------------
 
+* core: fix refresh of bars when applying layout (bug #37944, bug #37952)
 * core: add buffer pointer in arguments for signals "input_search",
   "input_text_changed" and "input_text_cursor_moved"
 * core: fix scroll to bottom of window (default key: alt+end) when line
diff --git a/src/gui/curses/gui-curses-main.c b/src/gui/curses/gui-curses-main.c
index 822f17013..0816b54e9 100644
--- a/src/gui/curses/gui-curses-main.c
+++ b/src/gui/curses/gui-curses-main.c
@@ -270,6 +270,13 @@ gui_main_refreshs ()
         }
     }
 
+    /* refresh window if needed (if asked during refresh of bars) */
+    if (gui_window_refresh_needed)
+    {
+        gui_window_refresh_screen ((gui_window_refresh_needed > 1) ? 1 : 0);
+        gui_window_refresh_needed = 0;
+    }
+
     /* refresh windows if needed */
     for (ptr_win = gui_windows; ptr_win; ptr_win = ptr_win->next_window)
     {
diff --git a/src/gui/gui-bar-window.c b/src/gui/gui-bar-window.c
index c8a2e51e0..712b8f41b 100644
--- a/src/gui/gui-bar-window.c
+++ b/src/gui/gui-bar-window.c
@@ -1139,7 +1139,7 @@ gui_bar_window_get_max_size_in_window (struct t_gui_bar_window *bar_window,
         }
     }
 
-    return max_size;
+    return (max_size >= 1) ? max_size : -1;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -1166,7 +1166,7 @@ gui_bar_window_get_max_size (struct t_gui_bar_window *bar_window,
         {
             max_size = gui_bar_window_get_max_size_in_window (bar_window,
                                                               ptr_window);
-            if (max_size < max_size_found)
+            if ((max_size >= 0) && (max_size < max_size_found))
                 max_size_found = max_size;
         }
         if (max_size_found == INT_MAX)
@@ -1203,7 +1203,7 @@ gui_bar_window_set_current_size (struct t_gui_bar_window *bar_window,
     if (bar_window->current_size != new_size)
     {
         max_size = gui_bar_window_get_max_size (bar_window, window);
-        new_size = (max_size < new_size) ? max_size : new_size;
+        new_size = ((max_size >= 0) && (max_size < new_size)) ? max_size : new_size;
         if (bar_window->current_size != new_size)
         {
             bar_window->current_size = new_size;