Fixing weathered wood

Late last winter, we assessed the condition of the storm windows and knew some repairs were in order. I picked up a copy of Save America's Windows and the Practical Restoration Reports Compendium from John Leeke (highly recommended). Over the waning days of winter and early spring, I read and reviewed the steps highlighted in those two volumes.

I knew that WoodEpox (and the related LiquidWood) would be part of the restoration efforts on the house. Later, as I got further along with the project, I made a water repellant/wood consolidant made from Penetrol and turpentine. It worked well to solidify and stabilize the grey, somewhat soft wood that hadn't seen a new coat of paint in many years.

Here's an example of a LiquidWood/WoodEpox treatment in a partly completed state. I first gouged the cracks open, then brushed on LiquidWood.

Considerable weathering is visible!

I mixed the WoodEpox per the instructions and pushed into the cracks with a putty knife:

After treatment:

Here's another before/after comparison, granted the screens are installed in the "after" shot

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Upstairs, we also found more problems. The sill had a large rotted hole, where the trim (shown at center of frame) made contact, about 10" by 2". The trim board had also rotted at the bottom. I replaced the trim board and used LiquidWood and WoodEpox to fill in the opening in the sill (after treating with a copper solution to try to stave off rot until it's time to replace the sill.

Considering this was supposed to be just painting windows (and not a whole restoration effort), we have made excellent progress. No wonder I haven't been on a run in four months!