Hi,
I'm part way through repairing one of the sash windows on my approx. 1901 house. Over the years it seems to have moved away from the wall into the room slightly, and the surrounding pointing has failed allowing water in. I'm going to have to replace the sill and the bottom few inches of the outer lining and the pulley stiles.
At the moment the window is dismantled and being stripped ready to repair, rebuild and re-install. My original plan was to fix the outer lining hard up to the reveal, with a bead of frame sealant to finish off.
However, the overall thickness of the outer lining, pulley stile and inner lining comes to 128mm. I assume that this should be level with the plaster on the inside of the room so that the architrave can sit just touching the plaster. Unfortunately, the depth from the surface of the plaster to the reveal is between 140 and 150mm. What's the best way to proceed ?
- Space the window off the reveal by about 12mm using battens all round, then finish off with pointing and frame sealant along the mortar/window frame joint. This is how it was originally done, but I'd be vunerable to the pointing failing again.
- Replace the inner and outer lining with thicker wood - which might leave an ugly step when the staff bead goes back on, and might also look out of proportion.
- Hack off the plaster round the window, most of which has already come off, replace the window and then replaster up to it, so that the outside edge of the architrave is partially covered by plaster. This might be a problem if I ever need to get the architrave off again.
- Fit two combis and fill with caustic soda. And (another) cat.
I'm thinking that the first choice might be the best, any other suggestions ?
Finally, the sill looks as if it was made from 5 x 3 timber. The largest that I can find at the local timber yards (Jewsons and Travis Perkins) is
4 x 3. I could always build up the width with more wood, the join would be more or less inside and covered up by the lower sash, but is there somewhere I should be looking (in the Warwick area) for larger section wood, in small quantities ?Cheers,
Phil Young