To fill or not to fill - opinions appreciated!

[tomyorkrules]

HI all,

I've just moved into a victorian terraced house where I wish to retain the original original sash windows. A couple of windows had quite a bit of wet rot on the surface of the sill which I need to address. ON one of these, I've stripped back the paint and scraped out the majority of the soft wood with a scraper. The underlying surface now feels solid. This has left quite a 'pitted' sill (See the images in my gallery) with pits 6mm or so deep, that I imagine is going to prove time consuming and difficult to fill and to get a decent looking finish. I'd appreciate peoples opinions on whether I should attempt to fill and sand the sill - from a finish and durability perspective - or should whether I look to get the sill replaced by a professional. My general philosophy with these types of things is to do as little as possible, as bigger changes open the door to more things going wrong. However, maybe in this case the wistest option would be to go down the replacement route...

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Firstly if you've removed all the punky timber (with a steel brush - this can be quite brutal) treat all the affected areas with a wood hardener (look for Bonda wood hardener). That will put a stop to the decay spreading and stabilise the timber. Smaller holes can be filled with a 2-pack filler (even flexible car body filler will do the trick - there are professional materials sold for the task, but they normally aren't available in small quantities). If you want to replace the sill then go ahead, but that will cost a lot more.

 

[foxhole]

Agree car body filler [flexible] will give a repair stronger than original

 

[tomyorkrules]

Many thanks jobandknock and foxhole for your replies. I've bought some Ronseal hardener and 2-part filler, and will have a go at filling the sill this weekend.

Kind regards.