Repairing concrete window sills

[Matt38]

Hi,

Our new house has really dire windowsills in need of repair and I am in need of some advice being a novice!

There are two problems, the concrete windows sills are peeling right back to the stone work revealing layers of different coloured paint as well as showing shabby stone work and also the there are deep cracks in the centre of the window sill.

Should I rub off existing paint to the stonework using sandpaper (type?), fill in the gaps with filler (type again?) and then paint. Do I need primer or should 1 coat be enough.

Any help would be much appreciated

Matt

 

[The-brickie]

Had a similar thing recently, the cills were bricks that were then rendered, I cut back the render and re did it and then repainted.

The trouble with any repair is that it does not get to the root of the problem, if the building is moving (with mine was) the crack will just open up again and the cill being made of smaller parts (bricks) will break.

A better fix would be to remove all bricks (if yours is indeed brick) and recast a concrete cill with a bit of re bar in it to stop further cracks.

 

[Matt38]

That sounds far too 'expert' for me to attempt !!! Would anything other than house movement cause the break? the other sills seem to have the break in the same place i.e. right in the middle of the sill.

Also, would flexible filler not move with the broken bricks then if it is just gradual movement? it says it does on the tube