Subject: Question (rotted window sills)
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998

I'm restoring a 75 year old home. On the South side of the home the window sills are crumbling (I'm not sure if they have wet rotted or dry-rotted (my guess would be dry with the Southerly exposure). What would be the best product(s) to fix this? I would like to fill in and solidify rather than try to replace the sills.

First, leave the bad wood in place -- unless it's just falling out. Make sure the wood is reasonably dry. Now, soak it 2 times with Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES). On the first application, the wood will soak up the CPES in large quantities; on the second less so, since a lot of the wood will be filled with epoxy. Depending on the extent of the rot, you may want to drill small holes up the side frames and inject the CPES there as well. Kind of up to you, since you're looking at it and determining where the rot is. Give the CPES 4 or 5 days for the carrier solvents to evaporate away and the epoxy to cure.

After the CPES, we'd suggest you follow that with our Layup & Laminating Resin, assuming that there are still cracks and crevices that remain voids. This is a thick liquid that will seep around the CPES impregnated wood and fill voids. It has a long cure time so it will go deeply into the wood. Give it about 24 hours to cure.

Finally, if you require a final smooth surface, you can go back and smooth over the top surfaces with Fill-It Epoxy Putty. This is sandable and will accept paint easily.

The key to the success of all this is getting the CPES into every area where there is rotted wood. You may have to explore a little, pushing/poking/drilling to find how far the rot goes. If the wood is reasonably dry, the CPES will do the rest -- it has remarkable penetrating ability.
The final result will be sills that are stronger than they were originally and no longer prone to rot.

How much of these products you might need will depend entirely on the number of windows and the extent of the rot. If you give me more details, I'd be happy to give you a quantity estimate. Our products are always in stock and we ship same day as order.

And feel free to come back if you have additional questions.

Doc