Rotted Wood on the bottom of my window sill

[COUNTRYDREAMER]

Hi Everyone, I need your help please! This weekend I was cleaning around the yard and found the metal part of the bottom of my window frame on the ground and the wood that had been holding it in place around the window has rotted away. The house was built in the 50's and I know is rotting in other areas too (like behind the bathroom shower wall).

Anyway, my question for you good people is: How would you suggest I best go about fixing this if funds are extremely low and if I would like to do it myself? Do I have to take out the entire window or can I just scrape out all of the old wood that is rotten and put a new piece in?

Thank you so much for all of your answers, help, and advice!
Diane

P.S. How do I insert a smiley face while I am typing??

[COUNTRYDREAMER]

Well, on my P.S. I had just typed the standard colon and right parentheses and it came up with the smiley, but how do you get all of the other cute kinds?
Thanks again!

[jack_c-ville]

You've probably got to take the whole window out. Otherwise you won't know for sure how far the rot goes.

Remove the window and then start exploring the limits of the rot by poking into the wood with a screwdriver. If it is just a little bit in the middle of a span of wood then you might get away with using a rotten wood stabilizer product. But if it's extensive then you need to take out and replace the entire piece of wood. If the adjoining pieces of wood are also showing signs of rot, explore and if necessary replace them as well. If the rot extends into your framing then you need to either call in a professional or learn a whole lot more about carpentry.

After replacing the wood there are some things you can do to prevent this from happening again. I suggest that you have a look at this site to learn how to deal with the whole problem: http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/d...b/rot/wood.htm

This is about fixing rot around a doorway rather than a window, but some of the techniques are similar to what you'll be dealing with. You might want to look around www.hammerzone.com some more for other information on dealing with rot and replacing windows.

By the way, 9 times out of 10 when I see a rotten piece of wood on the side of the house it is caused by water running down the side of the house because of leaking, clogged or damaged gutters. Sometimes the gutters might be in good shape but an inadequate shingle overhang will lead to some water running down between the gutter and fascia. Take a good look at your roof and gutters if you haven't already.

-Jack

[COUNTRYDREAMER]

Thank you Jack. Your information is very helpful. I will definitely check out the site you mentioned for further info.
Diane

[Soni]

A trick I learned when replacing sills was to make a shallow kerf cut lengthwise along the underside of the lower sill (when you paint, go lightly and don't let the paint fill it totally in).That way, when water runs off the sill, it gets stopped at the kerf and drips off a few inches out instead of running the rest of the way back to the wall of the house. That'll help in the future.

[COUNTRYDREAMER]

Originally Posted by Soni

A trick I learned when replacing sills was to make a shallow kerf cut lengthwise along the underside of the lower sill (when you paint, go lightly and don't let the paint fill it totally in).That way, when water runs off the sill, it gets stopped at the kerf and drips off a few inches out instead of running the rest of the way back to the wall of the house. That'll help in the future.

Thanks Soni - I'll remember that!

[John_in_Houston]

Originally Posted by COUNTRYDREAMER

or can I just scrape out all of the old wood that is rotten and put a new piece in?

That's what I did, but it was very obvious that the rot was confined to the bottom part of the frame.