# Can I use this to fix this?



## swee'pea99 (29 Apr 2022)

Finally getting round to sorting out the windowsill at the front of the house, which has one major problem...







...it slopes back towards the house, which means rainwater gathers in a wee puddle and sits there while it rots the window frame. The frame _is_ rotten, and will need sorting, but today's job is to skim the windowsill with something to change the slope, so water runs off instead of gathering. 

I was thinking about getting some of this: 






Does that look about right? Or if not, what would you recommend?

Many thanks in anticipation.


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## Once a Wheeler (29 Apr 2022)

Assuming it is a stone sill, remove it when you replace the window frame and reposition it with the correct slope as part of the frame replacement job. A grout skim is likely to break away bit by bit over time and simply repeat or aggravate the problem. Consider aluminium window frames, too. You should be able to paint them to match the old ones. In the end, wood will always deteriorate more rapidly than modern alternatives. Best of luck.


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## midlife (29 Apr 2022)

Are you planning on replacing the wooden window or using something like Repaircare to fix ?


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## swee'pea99 (29 Apr 2022)

Once a Wheeler said:


> Assuming it is a stone sill, remove it when you replace the window frame and reposition it with the correct slope as part of the frame replacement job. A grout skim is likely to break away bit by bit over time and simply repeat or aggravate the problem. Consider aluminium window frames, too. You should be able to paint them to match the old ones. In the end, wood will always deteriorate more rapidly than modern alternatives. Best of luck.



Thanks. I'm pretty sure it's concrete, and very firmly set in position. I really don't think my DIY skills & tools are up to a repositioning. I accept that a skim is a bodge, but then again the whole house is about 140 years of bodges, but it more or less holds together .



midlife said:


> Are you planning on replacing the wooden window or using something like Repaircare to fix ?


I've never heard of Repaircare, but I'm thinking in terms of removing the paint, finding out how extensive the rot is, and then, if it seems feasible, hacking out the old sill (the window frame itself is fine - I did that a couple of years back) and getting a piece of timber cut to replace the rotten section. (I'm lucky enough to have a friend who has access to the timber & tools to help me out with this.) But I'm minded to do the sill first, if only because one of my self-appointed tasks for this summer is to sort out the masonry paint at the fron of the house. The wooden sill, though rotten, can wait a bit longer. Unless you think that would be really dumb, in which case I'd be interested to hear any thoughts.


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## Ian H (29 Apr 2022)

If you build up the sill you will be covering part of the window frame, which will then be below the level of the sill. Plenty of potential then for a water trap, but also awkwardness when you come to replace the wood.


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## bikingdad90 (29 Apr 2022)

Could you fashion some UPVC plastic cladding that is used on eaves and create a sloped shelf to solve it?


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## dave r (29 Apr 2022)

swee'pea99 said:


> Thanks. I'm pretty sure it's concrete, and very firmly set in position. I really don't think my DIY skills & tools are up to a repositioning. I accept that a skim is a bodge, but then again the whole house is about 140 years of bodges, but it more or less holds together .



It looks like a wooden sill to me.


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## Pat "5mph" (29 Apr 2022)

@swee'pea99 I'm enjoying your improbable DIY threads 
Many years ago, my at the time partner did exactly what you are planning to do, on a wooden window frame and wooden sill, like yours.
I didn't work.
Years later I fitted upvc windows and sills, that cured it.
I discovered some water was also coming in from a crack on the rendering above the window, worth checking.


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## swee'pea99 (30 Apr 2022)

Pat 5mph said:


> @swee'pea99 I'm enjoying your improbable DIY threads
> Many years ago, my at the time partner did exactly what you are planning to do, on a wooden window frame and wooden sill, like yours.
> I didn't work.
> Years later I fitted upvc windows and sills, that cured it.
> I discovered some water was also coming in from a crack on the rendering above the window, worth checking.





Me too!

Well that's encouraging!

upvc?_ <shudder>_



Thanks all. All thoughts much appreciated. 


Ian H said:


> If you build up the sill you will be covering part of the window frame, which will then be below the level of the sill. Plenty of potential then for a water trap, but also awkwardness when you come to replace the wood.



Good point. I really have to deal with the rotten wood sill before I deal with the concrete sill. Truth is I'm rather dreading what I'll find when I start on the wood, but it unarguably is the sensible way round.


bikingdad90 said:


> Could you fashion some UPVC plastic cladding that is used on eaves and create a sloped shelf to solve it?



I'm still thinking mortar, or something like it. Once the wood's sorted.


dave r said:


> It looks like a wooden sill to me.



No, definitely concrete, +/-. Looking at the pic I can see 'the grain' now, but it lies! Definitely stone of some kind.

Thanks again. I'll be back with pics and more inane questions when it all goes pear shaped.


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