Best material for window sills?

"mark" wrote | I'm about to get the windows replaced in my flat.

With plastic? ;-)

| The old window sills are some sort of horrible red colour | ceramic tiles.

I remember them.

| Just wondering whether I should replace with the same kind of | material or is there something better for window sills?

Wood, which can be sanded and repainted. Window sills seem to take a lot of abuse, at least they did when I had any, as they were often the only free horizontal space, being kept clear by curtains every night.

Owain

Wood be it pine or MDF, go to your local timber merchants and they should stock ready finished and almost cut to size lengths.

-- A.N.O. Mark

Stone and concrete are surely the best. Stone is kinda pricey. With concrete, pay attention to edges and corners, ensure theyre finished ok.

Wood is fine too, but not as good as crete.

NT

Are you talking about inside (= window board I think) or outside (= window sill I think)? - responses so far suggest people are interpreting your question differently.

David

When I had my windows replaced, I hadn't decided what to do with the window sills, so I just plastered them with the rest of the window surround until I made my mind up. Of course, they've been like that ever since;-) and it's a solid enough foundation to lay pretty much any finish onto when I finally get round to it.

In the kitchen and bathroom where I laid ceramic floor tiles, I intend to use the same tiles on the window sills. If you have a timber floor anywhere, I would imagine using the same timber on the sills would also match it well. Probably not a good idea in the case of a shagpile carpet though...

I assume inside the house?

Wood, natural stone, tiles - it all works.

Depends on what its for. Decorative - use natural wood, but beware water stains from vases and flower pots etc.

In bathrooms etc I lean torwads tiles - often over a ply base to get an overhang..

IUve eben used melamine cip, glued down with bidy fller. Good and practical, if ugly.

Worst of all worlds is painted softwood. Always warps :-)

MDF infinitely better than wood, if to be painted. No warps.

I've seen it done. :-(

Christian.

Yes, I mean inside the house :)

Yup.

Hmm, many of the other posts seem to recommend wood. Maybe some kind of hardwood wouldn't warp?

I'm guessing in the bathroom that I'd need something more durable cos of all the shampoo bottles etc that get left there.

Cheers, Mark.

Isn't mdf basically a kind of chipboard? I thought that stuff would warp like a bannana with a bit of moisture? :)

Or are we talking something else more solid?

Cheers, Mark.

Bathroom = Tiles No (or little) contest.

mark wrote in news:41ec0545$0$40205$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net:

I'm also surprised the group has let us get away with spelling it "sill".

I asked a question when I was new hear and got reprimanded for not writing "cill" ;-)

mike

Hear hear! :-)

MDF once painted is dimensionally stable since it has no grain. It does shrink and expand a little, but it seems to be uniform - so you may get a shrinkage crack but never a warp.

But it's definitely susceptible to permamant damage like chipboard, on exposure to water - it swells up in the same way. (I have a window which leaked over time, resulting in a bump in the middle of the MDF windowboard - although it was painted, the water penetrated underneath)

David

Yeah - but it looks crap. Get a good hardwood and stain it properly and it will last fifty to hundred years.

The message from mike ring contains these words:

Can't be so many builders around these days. :-)

FWIW my dictionary defines cill as "a variant spelling (used in the building industry) for sill".

Oh - no doubt about that. Good hardwood cut quarter grain will look far better and be fairly warp free.

Trouble is you get the best grain pattern on non quarter grain cut...:-(