Home Improvement → Collapsed window sills in brick wall

I know that window sills have been discussed here in the past, but...

Our home was built in 1938; it is brick. On more than a few windows, it appears as if the interior structure of the house has settled, and pulled the window woodwork away from the brick skin. The result is that the window sills have collapsed and actually hold rain water and funnels it into the walls, rather than letting the water run off. If you look at the photo, you can see where the sills used to come to on the brick by the dark brick versus the cleaner-looking brick. The photo is of the worst of the sills that I am currently aware.

We really don't have the money to replace all 16 windows throughout the house; we just took out a big loan to have a contractor take care of some other structural issues. Is is possible that I could replace the rotted sills with PVC replacement sills? Is there anything I can do to get the sills to come back out to the original position on the brick run-offs? I know that there is some tuck-pointing that is essential to do. Any suggestions?

It looks more like the brick veneer is pulling away from the underlying structure.
The center of the window had a much larger area that is exposed then the left (in the picture) has. You might want to have it looked at. If you are in a cold climate when water gets in and freezes it can get to a point of pushing the entire side of brick off your house.

The above is based on the one pics, it could be just an optical delusion and the brick is fine.

Yes, the sill can be replaced fairly easily.

Easily for someone who knows what they are doing, maybe. But what about a Do-it-Yourselfer?

My main concern is that the window might be lower than it used to be in relation to the brick, so the angle of the sill will not be what it used to be.

The basic window opening (in the brick) has not changed in size. If the window is lower, it should be obvious as the top will have settled also or the frame will have separated on the sides. Capabilities of "DO-it-Yourselfers" are all over the place. The last one I replaced I used treated 2x lumber which I had allowed to dry.

I had a friend that was a professional carpenter.
I lacked the funds to pay him, but I'd "bribe" him with his favorite beer, wings, pizza. He'd set aside some time and show me a few things, then watch me repeat what he showed me. Then he'd take his payment and leave. He'd stop by when I had further questions, and as long as he had a few beers in my fridge.

Something like what you have there though, I wouldn't try repairing it. I'd try getting a pro to do it.

It's not typical for a house built in 1938 to do much "settling" 75 years later. It's most likely rot caused by the water intrusion. You may have to framing under that window to shore up too.

I don't think it has just settled over the last few years; judging by the discoloration on the brick, I think the sills have been out of position for probably 30 or 40 years. The sills have just become bowed and cracked over the last 20 or so years, maybe.

The previous owners just fudged it by using lots of putty to cover holes. I've fudged some of the windows myself, but this one needs serious consideration. Unfortunately, we may be discovering that the house has major foundation problems as well...

Ouch.

from the two different colors on the brick, it looks to me like at one time, the sill board extended further out OVER the brick. and the existing sill board may be a previous repair, that was inserted inside the brick, and then caulked for sealing.

so your answer might be to put it back the way it originally was. leave the existing sill board there, seal it well with silicone,

and add another sill board OVER it and OVER the brick,
any thickness, 1/4", 1/2", 3/4",
sealing that also with silicone all around and under.

even pressure treated wood will go bad eventually, so yes, consider one of the plastic boards, or a metal plate.

Is that a single-pane window?

Maybe it's time to consider just replacing the whole windows instead of fixing up old very inefficient windows that are costing you extra on your heating and cooling every year.

Needs a new window + who knows what else. Anything else is lipstick on a pig.

If we could only afford it. But, there are too many other projects that have to be addressed with our house. Wet basement/foundation/chimney tuck pointing/ plus the things our city is demanding we do: paint the garage/replace basement windows etc etc. A quick fix that will keep water from entering the walls would be the best i can hope for the interim. Yes, I just saw the "lipstick on a pig" comment: I gotta agree, but you can only do what you can afford to do.

I think that the two different colors on the brick mean that the sills (and the window frame) have moved in away from the brick. There is a significant amount of putty on the sides of most of the window frames to seal gaps between brick and frame. You know, the gray stuff that comes in rolls of several ropes attached to each other; I forget what it's called: rope caulk?

i have the same type of setup as you do.
the original outside of the home is asbestos shingles and this brick was placed over it and anchored on the house.
the biggest problem i found is moisture, water and insects collecting between the tiny space of the brick and shingles with water seeping into the foundation causing lots of different problems as well as the anchors that hold the brick facade broken from corrosion and/or pulling out from wood rot causing the brick facade to lean outwards.
i dont know if you have that type of issue but it might be worth while to inspect it with a tiny snake camera with built in light that you can snake through the top of the brick where it meets the roof edge which also in my case is an issue, where rain water comes in as well.
in my case, my house is being demolished, so i could care less at this point.

this is a good temporary fix until he saves the funds to have the windows replaced. I'd use paintable silicone.. this will make it look good, and keep the water out.

From what little of the brick can be seen, this appears to be a brick veneer rather that a masonry wall. I see no sign of bond bricks. Looks like the brick is separating from the inner wall. A very, very bad thing.

New windows should be pretty low on the list of things to be replaced to fix this issue.

Some thoughts.....

1) Soldier course bricks (vertically placed) are NEVER a good idea. As you can see in the photos, mortar between the bricks is missing. This provides a channel for rain & snow melt to get under the sills and into the wall cavity. A horizontal concrete sill would be much better as a replacement if you can do the job yourself (and you aren't concerned about the aesthetics of changing a brick sill for a concrete one.

2) If a concrete replacement sill is not in the cards, at least repair the missing mortar between the sill bricks. I'd suggest using non-shrink grout as it is highly impervious to water infiltration. The downside of using grout is that it looks different than the existing brick mortar.. Ordinary mortar will still be lots better than having the gaps you currently have.

3) You've let the paint on the window deteriorate to the point where water constant soaks the wood every time it rains/snows. When wood gets saturated with water it wants to dry, and it does that by forcing the water to the side of the wood with the least humidity. In this case it's to the inside and underside of the frame (ie. towards the inside of your house). This introduces more moisture into the wall cavity - which also helps create rip conditions for mold growth.

4) Since new windows aren't in the budget now, paint the windows. This will protect the wood from absorbing water. Scrape/sand all old paint, fill any large cracks in the window wood with either wood filler (or a paste mix of sawdust and wood glue backed tightly into the cracks - heck, even Bondo - a car body filler works too), apply a good exterior grade primer (oil or latex), then put 2 coats of a good quality acrylic latex paint as the finish coat. The acrylic latex will stand up to heat/cold well until you can afford to replace the windows.

5) Finally, apply high quality exterior latex caulking all around the window frames, paying particular attention to the wood sill/brick sill area.

All this work will cost you a couple hundred in supplies and some elbow grease.

I painted all the windows except for this one about 8 years ago. Even at that time, I noticed that quite a few sills had "collapsed"--or the veneer is pulling away from the framework.

I think I'm screwed from what you all are saying. I think this was going on when we bought the house in 1997; I didn't know better, and the home inspector did not point it out or catch it.

I'm going to go with "those are not the original sills." Those pics aren't the best, but from what I can see the "line" on the bottom goes all the way to the edge but does not continue up the side. If the veneer was pulling away the line would continue up the side as well.

/M

first of all, what my homey mike homes from holmes on homes says is to completely get rid of the brick mantle. replace it with a solid one piece mantle where no water will get in. even in my house its a brick mantle which i want to replace soon.

once thats done you can replace the window trim and seal it and water proof it and it will be good as new.

mike homes guarentees it