Went to look at a job today to replace some windows in a brick house.Turns out client has six large windows with rotten sills.Two of the six appear to have rot only on the nose or outside face of the sill, appears to be a separate piece of wood that delaminated or came unglued.Had it in my head to replace them all but now I am thinking that if there is a way to replace sill nose without removing the window that might work for two of them.Has anybody done this?
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Yes, a couple years ago I replaced a few full sill nosings, dug out and epoxied a few more. The cost of windows was not in the customer's budget, most of the window unit was fine. Made sense. Used 2x cedar that I found with knots I could cut out and get alot of useful stock. Once set up, all the bevels and drip groove went in a nice order. Could have done more with less labor expended. New windows would have been maybe 3500.00, the sill work was probably 500.00. Detailing the flashing/watersealing is a chore, but ended up a thous. percent better than the original install.......which had none. Fein Multimaster made the surgery go well.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Thanks, Im thinking I will try it.Wonder if the noses can be ordered with the other windows?
There are some manufacturers that you can get sill extensions from. These would of course be the unclad units. If not, a table saw on the job and you can do some good reproductions. Use a wood capable of withstanding the weather and accepting a decent, long lasting finish. Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
to add to what you said,
prime all sides of the new nosing before installing it and the edge of the sill.
I have done a lot of sill repairs this summer. I cut off the nose as much as I can. When the rot continues further in, I dig it out. When I have it all cleaned I put wood hardener on the wood. If I have large voids I fill with wood. Lastly I screw and glue a fabricated nosingI don't use epoxy or abatron; I use auto body filler. I finish my sills by filling voids and uneven areas with the filler ( after mixing cures in 5-10 min depending on how much catalyst you use, cover with oil primer. I understand that abatron is very expensive as is other epoxies. I think the cost becomes to much and the job could easily balance on either fixing the sill or replacing the window. (most of the rot I see is on very old windows that don't do much.I am wondering how long the average repair takes
Yes,
Antique (mid-1800's) barn sills. The sill extensions were 3"x11"x7' oak so replacement was not an option. I used Abatron with good results. It likes filling large areas, not so good on thin ones since it's epoxy-based. Expensive but permanent and doesn't shrink while curing. A breeze to sand & paint too.
what is abatron and where can I get it.One or two of the other windows might be candidates for it if "it likes large voids"
Hi,
Go to: http://www.abatron.com - main page - lots of stuff!
Or: http://www.abatron.com/home002.htm - for wood restoration stuff.
What I did was:
- Dig out the rot with a chisel, then wirebrushed it to remove it all
- Coated it all with LiquidWood.
- Filled it with WoodEpox leaving it proud all over (lots of extra). You really don't want to go back and add more as it tends not to stick to itself real well after it's cured.
- Belt-sanded it to shape, finish sanded it smooth. It tools well with chisel, drill etc. as well. The good news it doesn't load up the paper like other fillers.
- Primed & painted.
Efix2 - If I didn't know better, I would swear Dug was here in NY looking at this job. I just posted similar question this am about some windows I need to go over. I had no idea of this thread until tonight.
I'm torn between ripping out the sills and skimming them with epoxy. How thin can I go with the Abatron? 1/16th? 1/8th? Much thicker than that and it's not a good solution for me. Thanks for the input.
Don K.
Hmm,
Usually after I'm done carving out the rot and wirebrushing (to get it all) there's a lot to fill in. You can go thin if you want, it just takes longer to cure. The thicker it is the more heat it generates during curing. Be sure to wear rubber gloves because it's impossible to clean up! I use a palm sander to clean the knives after it's cured.
My point was that Abatron is perfect for deep stuff & re-sculpting up to several inches or more because you can do it in one shot (it doesn't shrink). Just make sure you leave it extra thick to sand down. Then you're only doing it once.
If it's only 1/16" why not just sand & paint?
BTW - I grew up in Smithtown - what a coinkidink!
E
Efix-
Why not just sand and paint? Wish it was that easy.
Looking at these two frames, they are in bad shape. Were it not for the copper tops, I would pull them both out and rebuild or construct new frames. Instead, I'm going to have to do it in place. The last 50 years have taken their toll on the wood. The sills got the worst of it and at least one has a split/missing chunk (maybe the size of a quarter ?) They almost seem porous - but they are not rotted. My thought is to use some kind of filler or cover with aluminum which is a cop out, to stop porosity - if that's what the problem really is. I'm not sure how long paint would really hold on this wood. They were done about 8 years ago with good oil base, and you would never know it.
I keep hearing about this Fein Multi tool and I'm about "this close" to going out and picking one up. My preference would be to actually remove the sills, replace with new - probably redwood - but I hate the thought of fighting the hidden nails holding it together. Plus, like I said they are on the second floor which makes it that more more fun. The only good part about it is that the inside is gutted and unfinished right now - but not for long.
You are from Smithtown. One of my favorite eateries was the Smithtown Haus, right in town. The former owners sold it 2 years ago, and I heard it's not so good. Haven't been back. I'm south of your old haunts, in East Islip. I think you and I may have spoken once before in a thread about the prices of real estate. My "old" name was Hammerlaw. Good talking with you.
By the way, are you going down on the Mississippi trip?
Don K.
Just watched Tom Silva do this type of repair on an Ask This Old House episode a couple of weeks ago. Might have info on the process or the video segment itself on their site. Worth a look.
I used to tell my customers that the only solution was to take the whole window out to fix that kind of problem, however, I just bought a fein multimaster a few weeks ago and it's turning out to be a magic wand for cutting out rotted sections of stuf like that.
Still, if theres a rotted component of a window, door, or whatever, I like to get the whole peice replaced, rather than trying to splice something in.