I'm stuck! I have a justifiable paranoia about the windowsills in a 4th storey south facing room in Scotland where I've had wet and then dry rot in 2008 shortly after we moved in.
This year I found dry rot in the next room caused by water penetrating a small hole on the sill, rotting the sill under the paint and then mycelium spreading behind shutter box, under window panelling, onto wall etc. All dealt with....
Back to room 1 and I found more mycelium (early stage) where water is collecting in a corner of the window sill and also under the removable bead internally. I've treated this and though the sill seems sound, paint is starting to work loose around the seal at the base of the external sill. So I've just flaked the paint off (easily) and the silicone seal looked mouldy. So I pulled it away from the most problematic corner where the rain ends up and a huge amount of it, much more than I was expecting came away from under the sill without too much trouble. The rest of it looks fairly stuck in...but I know silicone doesn't bond to silicone well. I have an anti UV, paintable, siliconised frame sealant that will seal to damp surfaces and which I want to put on...but do I just fill in the gap with a similar massive amount of sealant or do I try and remove all the other stuff and do the whole line? I know I should've sanded down and painted the sill first but my main concern was the seal under the window...
Wind and heavy rain forecast all week; I know I should've waited but I had to start - the fear of water coming in again was causing me sleepless nights!
I have pictures but they're coming out just too big to load..
This year I found dry rot in the next room caused by water penetrating a small hole on the sill, rotting the sill under the paint and then mycelium spreading behind shutter box, under window panelling, onto wall etc. All dealt with....
Back to room 1 and I found more mycelium (early stage) where water is collecting in a corner of the window sill and also under the removable bead internally. I've treated this and though the sill seems sound, paint is starting to work loose around the seal at the base of the external sill. So I've just flaked the paint off (easily) and the silicone seal looked mouldy. So I pulled it away from the most problematic corner where the rain ends up and a huge amount of it, much more than I was expecting came away from under the sill without too much trouble. The rest of it looks fairly stuck in...but I know silicone doesn't bond to silicone well. I have an anti UV, paintable, siliconised frame sealant that will seal to damp surfaces and which I want to put on...but do I just fill in the gap with a similar massive amount of sealant or do I try and remove all the other stuff and do the whole line? I know I should've sanded down and painted the sill first but my main concern was the seal under the window...
Wind and heavy rain forecast all week; I know I should've waited but I had to start - the fear of water coming in again was causing me sleepless nights!
I have pictures but they're coming out just too big to load..
