Wood is a great material to use for window frames and sills, but if you are living in an older home, there is a likelihood that sun, wind and rain has taken its toll on it. By nature, wood is a porous material, and needs to be sealed in order to stay in a good condition. If you do notice that your window frames and/ or sills are damaged, the best thing is to replace your windows, but if that is not an option at the time, Glass-Rite would like to offer some tips on how to fix it:
To detect how severe the damage is, use a screwdriver, knife, or ice pick and push into the affected sections. If the wood resists puncture when probing it with your tool, the wood can be repaired with epoxy filler. To do this, follow the below steps:
- Remove any loose and/or damaged wood using a knife or wood chisel. Make sure that you are only left with firm and dry wood.
- Scrape off any paint, grease, or oil on and around the affected area using a paint scraper or sandpaper.
- You can also drill holes into the surrounding damaged wood so that the epoxy can penetrate deeper into it. Do not drill all the way through the wood.
- Apply bonding agent or liquid wood to the wood so the epoxy will adhere to the wood better.
- Use painter’s tape to secure off the surrounding areas that you will not be working on.
- Fill all cleaned areas of the window frame with the epoxy filler. Smooth it off with a putty knife to match the shape of the affected area. Don’t worry about being too meticulous as you can sand it off later.
- Leave it to dry overnight to about 24 hours.
- Sand the filled area with sandpaper or an electric sander until it is smooth.
- Apply one coat of primer and two coats of the matching paint or wood stain.
Wood expands and contracts but the benefit of using epoxy is that it flexes together with the wood. Epoxy can be painted, stained, carved, nailed, and drilled just like wood. It is important to repair damaged wood windows upon detection as they are less efficient and it could be increasing your heating bills. Catching damaged wood early on makes it easier to perform DIY repairs that are both durable and permanent.
If the tool penetrates through the surface, you may want to consider replacing that portion of the window with new wood or a new entire window completely. If you are contemplating new wood windows, visit the Glass-Rite website for more information on Jeld-Wen wood windows that we install. Jeld-Wen offers premium wood windows that are eco-friendly and come in a variety of wood options.
If you’d rather exchange your current wood windows to something else, Glass-Rite in Albuquerque also carries vinyl windows as well as thermally broken aluminum windows. Either visit our website, give us a call, or stop by our location at 808 Gibson Blvd SE in Albuquerque to request a free, no pressure, window replacement estimate.