Hello, I am renovating a Victorian semi detached villa in Birmingham. The stone sill to the rear bedroom window has cracked and broken in two due to the removal of the arch and window and installation of glass sliding doors at some stage below. Does anyone have any advice on what I should fill this crack with and should I pin it with metal straps to secure it before painting it? I have just repointed the back gable that surrounds this window with lime mortar and am ready to paint the window and sill. Thanks, Kate
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plasticpigeon
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Wow, someone else doing a restoration in Birmingham, where are you located? I am trying to clean my sills and cappings of paint but they need a lot of repair, especially where gloss paint has been used as the water gets trapped underneath the paint and then the stone disintegrates. Is your sill painted at the moment? If not, why not use a stone repair mix. I think it is just a coloured mortar with stone dust and fine sand added. Lithomex seems to be popular but I must stress I have never used it, but intend to in the future. If it is painted and you need to paint it again, then perhaps lime mortar would be good to fill it. It sounds like you are pretty handy so I'm sure you will make a good job of it.
Feltwell
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Welcome!
I wouldn't paint the cill unless you absolutely have to.
Stone cills / lintels cracking in Victorian houses is quite common, we've quite a few on our place - the survey we had when we bought the house (full structural by someone with experience in older buildings) said that it was rarely a matter of concern as the stone tends to "lock in" even when cracked, and the cracking usually happened in the first few years after construction as the building settled. The main point is if what is above is showing any sign of distress - less of a problem with a cill!
In your case it's a little different - I presume you've sorted the problem below where your patio doors are/where and you now have adequate support in there.
I'd fill the crack with lime mortar personally. You can always play a bit with different sands to get a better colour match to the surrounding stone. It won't add any strength but then it shouldn't need to. Metal straps and stone sounds like a bad idea - why do you want to do this? As ever, pictures of the problem would help.
I wouldn't paint the cill unless you absolutely have to.
Stone cills / lintels cracking in Victorian houses is quite common, we've quite a few on our place - the survey we had when we bought the house (full structural by someone with experience in older buildings) said that it was rarely a matter of concern as the stone tends to "lock in" even when cracked, and the cracking usually happened in the first few years after construction as the building settled. The main point is if what is above is showing any sign of distress - less of a problem with a cill!
In your case it's a little different - I presume you've sorted the problem below where your patio doors are/where and you now have adequate support in there.
I'd fill the crack with lime mortar personally. You can always play a bit with different sands to get a better colour match to the surrounding stone. It won't add any strength but then it shouldn't need to. Metal straps and stone sounds like a bad idea - why do you want to do this? As ever, pictures of the problem would help.