Replacing outside window sill...

[lspencer534]

An outside window sill has rotted out, so I'm replacing that stinky mess. Here's the damaged portion:



Here's the replacement I made out of mostly PTP:



There's another 5.25" wide pice of PTP that goes behind the widest board in the pic; it fits against the tar board (or whatever it's called). Questions:

1. My house is sheathed with 1/2 plywood. Do I need to look for studs to mount the wider PTP board or just double up on the screws into the plywood sheathing? The original one didn't seem to be attached very good, although it didn't leak.

2. The many angles and cuts in the sill and drip board seem unduly complicated. Although I'm going to use caulk between everyting and put it together with deck screws, can you improve on this design?

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

can you improve on this design?

Overhang the plank by ½" so that water does not run onto it and run back in toward the trim .
You left it short.

edit. Check that. You got it right.

[mrvette]

YOU NEVER WANT ANY WOOD TO WEATHER, and I don't care WHAT it was treated nor not....

use vinyl , SOLID vinyl...caulk it up and CASE CLOSED for decades....

same for door jambs any house exterior crap really needs be masonry or at least hardiboard....with Tyvek wrapping over the studs.....

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

CASE CLOSED for decades....

Do you really think Spence need to get decades out of this job?

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by Jeff '79

Do you really think Spence need to get decades out of this job?

So he has to do it again in 5 years??? or what ever....how many layers of paint??

I have to admit I getting lazy.....for sure....

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

So he has to do it again in 5 years??? or what ever....how many layers of paint??

I have to admit I getting lazy.....for sure....

That old window sill was made out of cypress, and it's lasted since 1975...39 years. With PTP, it should last at least that long...or at least long enough that I won't be around to have to replace it.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

That old window sill was made out of cypress, and it's lasted since 1975...39 years. With PTP, it should last at least that long...or at least long enough that I won't be around to have to replace it.

That treated pine won't last 39 years in Mississippi if you seal and paint it every year.

Cypress is usually good as exterior trim for a lifetime

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

That old window sill was made out of cypress, and it's lasted since 1975...39 years. With PTP, it should last at least that long...or at least long enough that I won't be around to have to replace it.

Spence, NO, not today's PT pine, what they made years ago was fine, but you know they started this crap called YELLOW WOOD on TV and shit, and in the stores, and you maybe not aware of it, but the COLOR of the wood is certainly YELLOW not the darker brown/green that the older GOOD PT wood was done with....HUGE difference...it's all EPA crap.....

the material price MAY seem huge now, compared to crap....but I call it piece of mind....and wallet......

had the front deck overhang collapse in a BOOM over my shoulder, and so it was DEWWWWW to modern EPA wood, rotted out up top and lasted ~5 years at most.....been the GOOD shit it wood still be there, for another 20 years....

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by Gilligan

Spence, NO, not today's PT pine, what they made years ago was fine, but you know they started this crap called YELLOW WOOD on TV and shit, and in the stores, and you maybe not aware of it, but the COLOR of the wood is certainly YELLOW not the darker brown/green that the older GOOD PT wood was done with....HUGE difference...it's all EPA crap.....

the material price MAY seem huge now, compared to crap....but I call it piece of mind....and wallet......

had the front deck overhang collapse in a BOOM over my shoulder, and so it was DEWWWWW to modern EPA wood, rotted out up top and lasted ~5 years at most.....been the GOOD shit it wood still be there, for another 20 years....

Remember: I'm a cheapskate. The PTP that i use is the old, good stuff, the brown/green stuff you refer to, bought over 20 years ago and kept in my dry barn loft since then. And I have a lot of it, all 5/4 wide" x 16' long, no knot wood.

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

That treated pine won't last 39 years in Mississippi if you seal and paint it every year.

Cypress is usually good as exterior trim for a lifetime

See post #9. BTW, the cedar board and batten on my home's exterior is the good old 1-1/4" thick stuff, and I still have a ton of it on my barn.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by lspencer534

Remember: I'm a cheapskate. The PTP that i use is the old, good stuff, the brown/green stuff you refer to, bought over 20 years ago and kept in my dry barn loft since then. And I have a lot of it, all 5/4 wide" x 16' long, no knot wood.

How much you have?

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

How much you have?

Probably 250 BF. Not for sale, though.

[Jobaka]

You can help prevent water from wicking back to the wall by cutting a groove into the bottom of the sill:

[lspencer534]

Originally Posted by Jobaka

You can help prevent water from wicking back to the wall by cutting a groove into the bottom of the sill:

Good idea! I had forgotten about that.

[markids77]

It's a Band-Aid at best. The caulk will fail in a year and it will rot some more behind your patch. If you intend to keep the house more than a few years bite down now and replace the window(s) before the leaks rot your sheathing and framing. It will be too late for easy (cheap, or relatively cheap) repairs once the rot becomes structural; not to mention ants and treemites loving wet, hidden wood. YUM!