Damaged window sill - best way to repair?

thelazycyclist

Hi folks,

Unfortunately a car ran into my mother's window sill during the week. The house is approx 1 year old and I noticed the window sills appeared to be made of a hollow sounding material - not your traditional solid sills. An online search shows up passive sills - I presume that's what these are? I have a couple of questions. First, if you can identify the type of sill used from these pictures (see attached)? Second, what would recommend using to fix the damaged sill? You can see an insulation board type material now through the cracks and gaps in the damaged sill.

Thanks a lot

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10-10-20

Hi, that appears to me to be a passive cill alright in a sandstone finish, most likely manufactured by Passive Sills in Cork.

https://passivesills.com/cavity-wall-construction/

It's made from ultra-dense EPS (expanded polystyrene) with an external render/hard finish.

The best idea would be to call Passive Sills because I know that they mention a repair-kit on their site and send the photos on and have them recommend a solution. The proposed solution may be to replace the cill, if that's the case, please update us here as I would have an interest in the method used to perform that operation.

Will you be in a position to pursue costs against the vehicle-owner's insurance?

thelazycyclist

Many thanks for your email - just seeing it now. Not sure on the insurance aspect but certainly was hoping to avoid that and try, if possible, to repair myself. Putting in new foam would be ok I imagine but I guess the challenge would come to applying the resin evenly and matching the rest of the sill. I did wonder about the replacement of the entire sill but hopefully there's a simpler fix as it doesn't look to be more than about an inch in depth to the area affected.

I have emailed Passive Sills to see if they can confirm it's their product. Will keep you updated.

10-10-20

Replacement, if recommended, will be interesting as the cill is part of the window-structure effectively. It's held in by the block-work either side, but also by the front lower lip of the glazed windows. The bond with the brick-work below it may be easy enough to free-up, but the rest will need some cutting if the windows aren't going to be lifted out.

I can see how they might be able to replace it by installing a pre-prepared cill which was cut into two sections (cill and upstand), but I don't know how you would re-bond these two pieces back together.

Anyhow, here's hoping that the repair kit is sufficient.

carveone

Let us know how it went! Some of these installs look simple but they turn out to be hard to make look well.

I was searching for a solution to a similar problem (but with concrete sills, see attached picture!) and there was two threads on boards.ie:

The first (https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057797493/repair-broken-window-ledge) had a video link on how to redo a concrete sill by concrete filling. My Dad did one already before and is not enthusiastic about doing it again! I believe the people who "insulate wrap" houses are using cover sills to extend the sills instead - I'd no idea they existed until I saw it and searched boards.ie.

The other thread (https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117027207) is like this one and mentions Passive Sills as well. I myself had only found a place in NI (https://www.hhi-ni.com/products/pvc-cover-sills/) but I don't think they supply.

Passive sills has a short video which makes it look fairly straightforward. Bet it isn't that easy - most of my silicone sealant work isn't exactly pristine! The only install company I found was a crowd on adverts.ie called GBM (http://www.gbmsolution.com/index.html) but if anyone has any recommendations, it'd be great to know - I think all the trades are maxed out so I might end up DIYing it anyway.

IMG_20210908_165214.jpg

Edit: Gave them a call. They have a local distributor in Dublin (Premium Facades in Cherry Orchard) which is kinda handy. They also do the DIY stuff you'd need - ie: the spray foam polymer sealant stuff and the sealing tape etc. As per everyone else at the moment, the place in Cork has a long lead time (4-6 weeks) but the place in Dublin might have stock. Hope this helps someone.

thelazycyclist

Update:

The company were quick to respond to my emails and had the technical team have a look at the issue. The company recommends using an oversill for this repair. Approximate cost for the products (220 cm x 20 cm oversill) would be 130 euro. Plus 130 shipping so if I go this route, I'd hope to collect in person at some point. This would be placed over the existing broken sill - see video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onY6wANZUlQ

Separately, I asked a fellow who is doing snags for building project across the road and he mentioned a foam and resin coat or else he could finish the job if I bought the products if I didn't feel like risking it.

As Carveone mentions - it may be easier than it looks!

Anyhow, thanks for advice so far and will let you know final outcome.

BenOD

Hi, did you ever get this sill repaired? Also, what colour was it in the end, sandstone or white granite? I have small cracks in ours and I’m trying to ascertain if the repair kit will be the same colour, The PassiveSill company in Cork can’t seem to answer this for me 🤷🏼‍♀️