What would cause a windowsill to sag?
Asked by
kevbo (
25672
)
January 4th, 2010
from iPhone
Got a good look at my house yesterday after two years of renting it out, and the windowsill in the master bedroom has a wicked sag to it. There’s no cracks in the sheetrock or anything, so I’m guessing it’s not from the house settling. Also, there’s no water damage. Could it be from sun exposure? (It gets direct southern sunlight.) Something else?
It’s a 2” x 6” frame, so the sills are deeper than most.
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6 Answers
erm, a really fat peeping tom maybe?
but seeeriously…...
I had a similar thing (well similar in the sense it was the windowsill) with an upstairs windowsill a few years back, It cracked rather than sagged but turned out it wasnt the house settling, it was the internal structure of the sill, it had an iron (or some kind of steel) bar running through it and it had rusted and then burst the concrete sill. I actually had to replace 2 lintels too as well as one sill and some repairs to the other front upstairs sill. Depending what your sill is made from would possibly determine causes of sagginess, Here in Scotland our houses are brick built, this house was built in the 30’s and has done all the settling it’s ever gonna do, Now it’s old age that’s causing me, I mean IT to fall apart!
Is your frame 2 foot wide by 6 high or the other way round? is it painted with REALLY HEAVY paint? :0) – is it possible the former tenants used to sit on it? Is there a local builder you can get to have a look-see, a pro opinion is generally the way to go (it just hurts the pocket)
Direct Sunlight can definately have a detrimental effect on your building, again depending on the materials the windowsill is made from, It’s not made of cheese or something is it?
Sounds like a euphanism for the gravity induced breast fall.
Just because you can’t see water damage doesn’t mean there isn’t any. If rain as somehow gotten into the wall you might not see it. It could be dry rot. It could also be termites.
If you are renting, I would ask the landlord to send someone to look at it. He would probably appreciate it to, as these things don’t fix themselves and tend to get worse over time.
It sounds like you’re looking at some kind of decorative sill only, like a window moulding that is applied only around the window but not attached to the studs. Since you see no structural damage to the sheetrock, then I presume that the frame is also intact, and I’d agree with you that this does not look like any kind of settling, water damage or termites. It looks like the decorative sill needs replacement; no big deal.
Your assumption that it may be sun-caused damage seems likely, and especially so if it’s not natural wood or some kind of vinyl with reinforcement.
@CyanoticWasp ^that^ was my idea also. It could be dry-rot, where the wood simply turns to dust from exposure to the sun.
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