I have a long shop windowsill, say 12 foot. Its softwood, rotten, painted, split, cracking with voids under, patched with concrete, filler, two-part epoxy filler, one strip of Teak, mastic: In short it is a mess! The usual answer would be to rip it out and replace, but I'm scared to do that;, the glass panes are 6ft by 8ft, and not safety glass (about 90 years old)There is no way I'm going to remove the sills without breaking the glass. Don't know the cost of glass replacement, but I don't expect it to be under £1000. Also the existing glass has had UV film added at £400. What I'd like to do is cut off the overhang and dig out what can be dug out, then cast a concrete sill, effectively encasing some of the rotten wood in concrete, then seal and paint the concrete. What do you think? any suggestions? I'm not trying to penny-pinch, but on the other hand, I don't want to spend £20,000 on rebuilding the whole front of the shop.
It's not impossible, but I would check any liability insurance you have in regards to it not being safety glass! Mr. HandyAndy - Really
I think the uv film can also added to upgrade the glass to a safety standard, not sure if this is the case here, but seen it done many times in schools.
I'm OK with the glass, you don't have to retrofit safety glass, and the film, although not required, does increase safety. My question though, is about the sill; the glass comments were just to explain why I didn't want to rip the existing out. Splicing a new sub-sill is not an something I'd want to go for. I'm interested in your comment about plastic cladding, can you expand on that or have you any links? I've looked, but just get companies who want to sell me plastic windows.
Was thinking the same as Big Adam. Bond uPVC cill or polyester powder coated metal cill over the existing. A product I've recommended before, Sikaflex EBT can be used to bond those sorts of things
Great thanks. I've found http://www.truelineproducts.co.uk that will make an aluminum over sill, will measure up today and get a quote
Here's a sketch of the cross section, not sure how I can cut it out. The brick height underneath is only 12" The cill lengths are 4.5m and 3m with two returns into a recessed shop door of 1.5m 2 panes are 3m x 2m high (and 3 smaller but still 2m high!) And yes the bottom of the glass seems to just be sitting on top of the timber, sealed with paint and mastic.
That void does not look good. Is the trim inside, judging by the sun? Could the trim be replaced without breaking the glass and the void filled with some timber. If the rot is that bad it wants treating after any really soft timber is scraped out and replaced with new timber otherwise it will spread and the timber will eventually not support the glass. The construction seems very peculiar to me and I think you can only do what I have just said and then fill the rest say with flexible car body filler or similar then sand and paint. This repair if done properly might well last several years. This is the cheapest solution IMHO. Is there rising damp in the dwarf wall? If so it should be treated with paste injection and then it could be re-rendered in K Rend but this is not cheap but it is only a small area. It would need injecting very close to the ground however or there would be nothing to render.
I'm in the middle of the New Forest. The shop was built in 1920's, but I think it originally had inset windows so that produce could be displayed outside, my assumption is that these windows were a later adaptation as the traffic got worse, and to be frank a bit of a bodge: but I have a 50 year old picture with these windows so they are at least that old. The whole building is three stories and built on top of a Victorian cellar, which seems to cope with the 40 tonne trucks passing a couple of foot away. I realise encasing it sounds naff, but I don't think restoration is possible without starting again and I'm fed up with the fill and paint every few years.
It looks lovely but I don't know what to say, it's a bodge and your best bet is to cover it up till it falls apart. Zinc or lead would look better than plastic though.