Cutting away the rotten frame and sill

Having removed the sashes, the frame and sill were assessed for rot. The lower sections of both pulley stiles and outer faces were soft and crumbly and in need of repair. There are two approaches that I've found mentioned online: epoxy filler formed into the right shape, or splicing in new sections of wood. I didn't find either approach covered in much detail. Ultimately the most complete resource for the repairs is this publication from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). 

I opted for the traditional splicing approach due to the extent of the rot.

Rotten pulley stile and face cut away


For the splicing approach, the rotten sections are first cut out. It's important to make the cut at an angle such that any water running along the cut line would not end up somewhere that it could pool and cause further rot. For this window it meant the cuts on the stiles had to slope towards the outside, and the cuts on the outer face had to slope towards the centre of the window.

Left to right: vintage keyhole saw, Milwaukee jab saw, Einhell oscillating multitool

Cutting them out was difficult due to the tight space next to the stone. I started out with an old keyhole saw that proved to be too long and flexible. The Milwaukee jab saw did a better job.

The sill was rotten at both ends, so much so at one end that it was no longer supporting the pulley stile. Feeling the underside of it revealed rot all the way along. I decided to cut all the way along it to remove the outermost half. Neither of the saws worked for this as the sill sits on stone, so there's no way to get a good stroke on the saw. To achieve this I ended up buying an oscillating multitool in order to plunge cut straight down.

One end of the sill completely rotted away


Interestingly, the other side of the sill wasn't quite as bad and still had some support in place for the pulley stile. I can only assume this means it rains more heavily in one direction than the other.

The other end of the sill in slightly better shape


I was initially uncertain about cutting anything away, but after doing so and seeing the state of the sill's underside, I'm glad I did it.

The underside of the sill had seen better days


It became clear at this point that the frame construction wasn't quite like what I'd seen in books. The books show fully encased weight pockets, whereas these were only three-sided, exposed to the brick and stone on the inside. Further, the sill in books have housings for the pulley stiles, whereas this sill is simply rebated for them.





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