Subject: rotting french windows
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001

Dear Doctor,I have all single pane french windows in my house. Because of poor ventilation, during the winters the windows are often covered with condensation, which then rolls down the windows and into the wood frames. As a result all of my windows are rotting, mostly visible in the bottom corners of each pane. Every few years I paint the windows, which helps tremendously, but some of the windows are beyond that. On a few, rain from the outside has soaked into the wood so that the bottom of the window could easily be crumbled in my hand. How would you recommend I fix these windows? Should I crumble away the wood and then build it back up with something? Should I just continue painting the windows every few years?
Thanks, Todd P.

Todd,

The final solution to your problem is to remove all paint from the affected areas, remove any wood that is literally falling out, and then saturate the rest of the area with our CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer). This will stop the rot, harden the soft wood, and prevent future rotting and deterioration. Water and condensation will not affect the treated areas.

Missing wood, or cracks and splits, should then be filled with our Fill-It Epoxy Filler. This will bond right down at the chemical level with the CPES-treated wood. It can be sanded after 24 hours, and then painted. You should wait for several days after the application of the CPES before you begin the filling process.

CPES is an epoxy and once in the wood it stays there indefinitely. It is carried into the wood with a powerful solvent mix, so there are solvent fumes. If used outdoors this is not generally a problem, but if used indoors we strongly suggest open windows/doors and fan-driven cross ventilation. These fumes gas-off and there is no lingering odor.

Both the CPES and the Epoxy Filler act as base coatings and can be painted over directly. Clean-up is with lacquer thinner.

The amount of CPES you would need would depend on the degree of wood degradation and the area. In what you describe, I would guess that a 2-quart unit would do 5-6 complete windows. The Epoxy Filler is strictly a volume issue -- enough to fill what you see.

Once you do this, you won't have to do it again.

Come on back if you have additional questions. We'll help in any way we can.

Doc