A rough ballpark of how many hours this will take?

Bendy_House

I've found myself in the strange position of having to quote for a job.

Long story short, but Nan's new place is leasehold, and they are responsible for replacing rotting windows, but Nan's just had the lovely wooden ones painted inside and they look great - they'd be replaced with PVC.

The company doesn't have a maintenance team, and sadly just have a perfunctory regime of getting them repainted every 4 or 5 years - once rot starts, nothing is done to actually treat it. They just let the items get to a stage where they replace them rather than repair.

Anyhoo, she had a chat with the main guy, and he seems open to allowing us to repair the windows to give them a 5+ year extra life. He's even happy to pay for me to do it (I've just saved them a small fortune by restoring the decking area). Problem is, I haven't the beginnings of an idea how many hours a pro would take refurb'ing these windows; I'm a very slow worker, so would not tally up 'my' type of hours... Instead, if they are prepared to pay me a pro's number of hours, and at my lower hourly rate, then I can just get on with it in my own time.

Anyone able to provide a rough guestimate, please?

There's a 3-section bedroom window, and single bathroom window. Both have patches of rot, but are still relatively solid. I plan to cut out the rotten bits, soak the timber in preservative, then wood hardener, before 2-pack filling and painting.

Then there's a large 8-fixed panel jobbie, which is largely in good order, but has the odd dodgy patch at the bottom which will need ditto.

Any idea on how long a pro would take? Thanks.

travis-powers

Not really a lot of help but this is something I’d do on day rate for the simple reason when you start you’ll find a lot more.
Do you have a multi tool and chisels?
 You should get five years with filler and a good paint job, you can extend this with resin but it’s quite expensive.
 

stuart45

I did 3 windows a couple of weeks ago. One the size of the middle sized, the other 2 slightly smaller combined than the big one. No repairs, fair bit of a rub down, 2 coats of stain. Took me 20 hours. It was the upper floor so done off a tower.
The small windows don't look too bad, but I'd have a check at the bottom of the big doors, there could be a fair bit of work in them. 
Is the putty in good nick?

Bendy_House

Thanks both.

That's something to go on.

Yes, I think they are quite salvageable. What never ceases to surprise me is the reluctance of folk to use wood preservative. I think this should be a default product to use wherever a crack appears, or paint peels to expose bare timber. By simply cleaning it up and repainting, the damp - and forming rot - is essentially just trapped inside.

Yes, I have chisels, scrapers and stuff - no multitool, but I should be ok.

stuart45

What are you going to do about those cills? They do look a bit rough.

Bendy_House

I've asked on another thread.

I'm wary of using brick cleaning acid, even tho' I have some.

Possibly gently wire brush with detergent?

What would happen if I bleached it - anything?

stuart45

Try detergent and stiff brush first. Acid is the last resort. On concrete there is a skin of laitance that gets brought to the surface by either a steel trowel or vibration. This forms a waterproof seal which helps stop moisture getting into the concrete and freezing/spalling. Acid breaks this down, but if the stains are engrained into it, breaking it down will clean it. It's best to use a sealer on the concrete after it's been neutralized.
Concrete sealers are quite expensive, but a linseed oil/turps mix is an old fashioned but really good sealer for brickwork and concrete. Modern sealers are often based on this.
Bleach won't attack concrete.

Bendy_House

stuart45 said:

Try detergent and stiff brush first. Acid is the last resort. On concrete there is a skin of laitance that gets brought to the surface by either a steel trowel or vibration. This forms a waterproof seal which helps stop moisture getting into the concrete and freezing/spalling. Acid breaks this down, but if the stains are engrained into it, breaking it down will clean it. It's best to use a sealer on the concrete after it's been neutralized.
Concrete sealers are quite expensive, but a linseed oil/turps mix is an old fashioned but really good sealer for brickwork and concrete. Modern sealers are often based on this.
Bleach won't attack concrete.

Many thanks, Stuart.

Gulp, more scary now...

These already have a naturally textured finish - like sponged render. Not smooth.

I'll try the stiff brushing first, and then bleach just as a test.

stuart45

Probably cast stone which is a form of concrete. A sponge or wood finish tends to bring some of the aggregate to the surface.

twopenny

I've tried bleach, Flash and vinegar with a stiff nylon brush and not that wonderful. Used a wire brush gentlish but still not great.

I did see someone pressure washing theirs. I wondered why I hadn't thought of that. They looked like new - and you could do the path ones at the same time

The trouble with how long is it depends on your tools and your natural speed/persistance.

I'd be inclined to quote for the job rather than by the hour. That way you're under less pressure and if you finish earlier than expected great.

The little window looks like there's some decay at the corners. I've sucessfully dug out such and refilled with wood filler externally.

What I did find was not to do it at bird breeding time as the small tits just love the filler and I had to redo it. Also damp while it's drying out causes some chemical brown stain. So timing is crucial.

A couple of undercoats then gloss seemed to make it invisible to birds but it was the timing to get glossed before they arrived.

Bendy_House

Good stuff there, 2'penny.

BLUDY PRESSURE WASHER! OF COURSE!

And I HAVE one - it's NAN'S!

Lawdie!