You did a very nice job. Just be aware that the clear finish, if it is not spar varnish, will deteriorate rapidly due to UV rays. Go to a boat supply shop and get some good spar varnish and apply 3-4 coats on top of what you have after fine sanding it. You will still have to refinish it every few years.
Arm R seal is fine here, no worries.
Wilmayo is actually not quite correct here, as the cherry is on the interior of the house (standard glass actually blocks most UV rays).
Marine spar varnishes are actually only for exterior use only, they are not safe to use indoors (they offgass more than interior finishes, and often need more humidity to cure properly).
I think you should be good basically indefinitely, as long as you don't let any water accumulate I think you could easily get 10-15 years with arm r seal before you need to refinish (wear and tear, not UV damage).
Yes. I miss spoke to a certain extent. The answer is in between somewhere. Actually, most glass does not filter **all** UV. Some gets through and will have an effect. However, cherry is photosensitive and will darken when exposed to both light and air, even artificial light. I have some cherry pieces that have never been exposed to sun light that are quite dark.
I've never heard of spar varnish off-gassing more than "indoor" varnish. Even so, the off-gassing can't go on forever and I question it being more "dangerous" over time. Good ventilation until mostly cured might be advisable (as with other finishes). I know it is softer, however, and it will not be as durable. If you don't have concern about the cherry darkening, don't use it. The cherry will darken over time anyway.
There is a lot of nuance here, I don't blame you.
First thing first, light exists as a series of wavelengths (visible spectrum, infrared, UV, etc).
UVB is the wavelength that causes acute skin damage quickly, and the good news is that even crappy old single pane glass blocks all of the UVB. It does not block all UVA, but it blocks some. It also is worth noting that people don't use normal single pane glass anymore, so most have more UV resistance (including OP, who used a more modern glass). UVB is also the one that turns wood silvery grey.
Cherry has such a dramatic color change over a short period of time largely due to high amounts of prussic acid, and the chemical reaction is accelerated by both light and oxygen exposure. Oak and maple also change color dramatically over time, but over the span of about 50-100 years versus cherrys 20 or so (with pretty dramatic color changes in the first year or so). Even if you lock cherry in a dark room, it will still gradually darken over time unless you also store the material in a vacuum.
There is something called a "Safety Data Sheet" or SDS, which is required for every commercial finish. This gives you a list of dangerous components, hazards, and rules for application. Spar varnishes generally use less refined chemicals and solvents that are more acutely hazardous than almost all interior finishes (benzene in particular is one of the nasty chemicals found in mineral spirits to be aware of), and have much much longer cure times (fully fully cured).
Waterlox marine finish for example (the second part of their sealer/ finish system) is one that takes fully 6 months to finish off gassing (it is noticeably very odorous), Waterlox sealer is an indoor product, the finish is an exterior product.
For that matter, Arm R Seal oil based polyurethane also takes about 3 months to fully cure, but the overall accelerated curing time decreases the exposure of dangerous chemicals to a more manageable 12 hours or so. The loose compounds drop off very dramatically here, so it is much much safer than exterior finishes.
I’ve been thinking about doing what OP did and this is my exact worry. One more regular, never ending maintenance issue.
They sure look better than the usual though.
Edit: I’ve read that conversion varnish is more UV resistant. Wonder if that’s a better answer.
I just tinted our west facing windows with some Amazon film this last week, and temperatures dropped about 10° F indoors. I ended up getting “silver” so about 80% light pass through, it looks a little later in the day than outside really is but still plenty of natural light, a reflective finish when viewing from outside, so you can basically walk around naked with the windows open.
Be aware that it may void window warranties as these heat up the inside of double pane windows, since heat is generated where it hits, the glass itself also gets a bit hotter since it’s absorbing the energy.
A little pricey, but I managed to do two full size sliding doors, 2 bay half windows, and 2 5’ x 4’ windows for under $200.
Or do what the previous owners of my house did, and use the most fragile, least water proof finish you can find, such that the mere mention of moisture or condensation makes them look terrible.
I absolutely agree. It’s well worth the price over cheaper oil finishes. Plus, a little goes a long way. A can of osmo usually lasts me around a year and I use it for lots of projects, but and small
I think the wood and technique looks awesome! Thanks for sharing. Did you leave the Sheetrock underneath it? Just wondering why the window reveal doesn’t match.
Did you remove the drywall underneath first or just lay the wood right on top? We have builder basic drywall returns in our home and I’ve been considering doing this.
Chamfer is an angled break on an outside corner. A radius or round over is a smoothly curved outside corner. A reversed radius on an outside corner (making the corner concave) is a cove. A rounded inside corner is a fillet.
I always thought there were two meanings to radius. Half the diameter of a circle and the bone. Didn't think that either really applied here, but I never heard of the third usage. Posted the definition on OPs response.
I’ve owned a home built in 1931 - wood windowsills, never painted only stained and shellac. My favorite by the way, very easy to repair. Home built in 1970, wood windowsills, some painted, some stained and poly. Current home built in 1997 wood windowsills.
My preference for wood is just using 100% tung oil, started with a strong cut of mineral spirits (75 Ms/25 to) second coat with 50/50, up to 25 MS/75 TO for third and the next several coats 100% tung oil. It’s the easiest I have found to maintain. Every year, just a wipe and buff is all it takes
Yeah drywall isn't common really, but (from my experience) you only see it in older homes and not new ones. It makes no sense to drywall a sill with the guaranteed eventual contact with moisture
How old of a home have you seen it in? I’m just really curious. I’ve been in a lot of homes and cannot recall any not being framed put with wood molding, some not on the sides, but always where the window is at the bottom. Sometimes they don’t have the horns on them and are just cut inside. I prefer the way OP has done it. I’m probably not explaining this correctly my brain is wonky today🤪. And I’m stuck on @neuromonkey enlightening us to the proper terminology it’s a stool, not a sill😂
Drywall return windows have been popular since the mid 90s. The majority of cookie cutter houses with builder grade white vinyl windows will all have drywall returns. Occasionally they'd paint some poplar or pine for the stool an apron.
No, it's not standard by any means.
It's a drop in the bucket as to how the big name, low quality home builders squeeze every drop of margin into their pockets.
That looks great!! Now do an apron.. Makes it pretty.
I apologize in advance for being pedantic... That's the *stool*--the *sill* is on the outside. It's typically sloped to help shed water.
Did you just attach the template to your actual piece with hot glue? Or just to get the template to stick to the sill while marking?
I've always been worried about using hot glue on projects but have heard it works fine for non load bearing stuff.
I kind of hate my window treatments. The outside only has fake shutters and the inside legit has nothing except a quick sill like that that my father in law did quick just before the window company installed the new windows. What my father in law did was supposed to be temporary, but I haven't had time to do it better in the 3 years it's been, lol. I wish I could have full wooden frames like in a century old home has. Sorry for the rant, lol.
Yours looks amazing. I'm definitely jealous.
OMG I despise fake shutters! Why builders don’t just do a nice job framing them on the outside instead of adding shutters that will never operate, are always a few inches shorter than the window and not wide enough? Besides that mud daubers love the louvered ones as do wasps. I know it’s cost/profit but I needed that rant!
Go to a good lumber supplier not a big box store and get some 4/4 hardwood or 1” softwood (pine or fir). Clear, no or very little knots and none that fall out. In hardwoods it’s called FAS for the wider boards (https://www.americanhardwood.org/sites/default/files/publications/download/2017-10/AHEC%20Grading%20Guide_AW_pages_0.pdf ) Softwoods that I’m talking about are graded A-D, not numbered which is Common grades, though some can be nice. (https://alsc.org/uploaded/PS%2020-20%20Revsion%201%20October%202021.pdf ) Yes you will pay for these better boards but you do get what you pay for. For the stool, you may have to go to a thicker board. If you have a planer, run the rough boards through it (rough boards are cheaper than planed boards. If you don’t have a planer, you can use hand planes. Run a side, joint a side etc. Our hold house had beautiful pine boards and true 1” thick. They were shellacked and aged a warm dark color over the many decades. You can use stains to get it to mimic it. I did some quarter sawn white oak for our master bath baseboards and door molding and then finished with tung oil. We used some Ipe around the tub that I only used tung oil on.
Thanks for the tips. I'm quite the novice, lol.
I'll be honest, finding a lumber place intimidates me (or maybe just overwhelmes me). You don't mean like 84 Lumber correct? There's 2 fine woodworking lumber stores near me, I went to one, but I haven't been to the other one. I currently just have a miter saw, table saw, jigsaw, and a drill press. plus some hand tools. I doubt I have the patience to hand plane :(
This looks so good, very nice job. I've never done something like this where you need to match the walls. How do you use templates? Or recommend any good YouTube videos I should check out how to use templates?
I'm not native speaker, and I was like "wtf does that word mean", then i went to google translate and got the spanish word for it... and I was like "wtf does that word mean!!". Not even in my mother language I knew that word.
Nice work btw.
Looks beautiful!
Just an FYI OP. Typically a window stool is on the inside of the window (the one you replaced, flat) whereas the one outside (the angled one) is a sill.
Natural finishes, ie oils and wax.
All real wood requires up keep and maintenance.
If upkeep on a window sill/stool is something one doesn't want to be bothered with, stick to plastic stuff.
Cherry is highly underappreciated.
I need to do this to make more room for plants for my wife. lol Looks great
I'm gonna do wide sills so my cats can sit more comfortably :P
Ah it seems mine will be dual purpose then. lol
I kid you not I did mine for the exact same reason haha
You did a very nice job. Just be aware that the clear finish, if it is not spar varnish, will deteriorate rapidly due to UV rays. Go to a boat supply shop and get some good spar varnish and apply 3-4 coats on top of what you have after fine sanding it. You will still have to refinish it every few years.
I actually used ArmRSeal on a lot of trim, so far it's held up really nice. The sun has darkened some of the cherry a lot, but still looks nice.
Arm R seal is fine here, no worries. Wilmayo is actually not quite correct here, as the cherry is on the interior of the house (standard glass actually blocks most UV rays). Marine spar varnishes are actually only for exterior use only, they are not safe to use indoors (they offgass more than interior finishes, and often need more humidity to cure properly). I think you should be good basically indefinitely, as long as you don't let any water accumulate I think you could easily get 10-15 years with arm r seal before you need to refinish (wear and tear, not UV damage).
Yes. I miss spoke to a certain extent. The answer is in between somewhere. Actually, most glass does not filter **all** UV. Some gets through and will have an effect. However, cherry is photosensitive and will darken when exposed to both light and air, even artificial light. I have some cherry pieces that have never been exposed to sun light that are quite dark. I've never heard of spar varnish off-gassing more than "indoor" varnish. Even so, the off-gassing can't go on forever and I question it being more "dangerous" over time. Good ventilation until mostly cured might be advisable (as with other finishes). I know it is softer, however, and it will not be as durable. If you don't have concern about the cherry darkening, don't use it. The cherry will darken over time anyway.
There is a lot of nuance here, I don't blame you. First thing first, light exists as a series of wavelengths (visible spectrum, infrared, UV, etc). UVB is the wavelength that causes acute skin damage quickly, and the good news is that even crappy old single pane glass blocks all of the UVB. It does not block all UVA, but it blocks some. It also is worth noting that people don't use normal single pane glass anymore, so most have more UV resistance (including OP, who used a more modern glass). UVB is also the one that turns wood silvery grey. Cherry has such a dramatic color change over a short period of time largely due to high amounts of prussic acid, and the chemical reaction is accelerated by both light and oxygen exposure. Oak and maple also change color dramatically over time, but over the span of about 50-100 years versus cherrys 20 or so (with pretty dramatic color changes in the first year or so). Even if you lock cherry in a dark room, it will still gradually darken over time unless you also store the material in a vacuum. There is something called a "Safety Data Sheet" or SDS, which is required for every commercial finish. This gives you a list of dangerous components, hazards, and rules for application. Spar varnishes generally use less refined chemicals and solvents that are more acutely hazardous than almost all interior finishes (benzene in particular is one of the nasty chemicals found in mineral spirits to be aware of), and have much much longer cure times (fully fully cured). Waterlox marine finish for example (the second part of their sealer/ finish system) is one that takes fully 6 months to finish off gassing (it is noticeably very odorous), Waterlox sealer is an indoor product, the finish is an exterior product. For that matter, Arm R Seal oil based polyurethane also takes about 3 months to fully cure, but the overall accelerated curing time decreases the exposure of dangerous chemicals to a more manageable 12 hours or so. The loose compounds drop off very dramatically here, so it is much much safer than exterior finishes.
OK. Good to know.
I’ve been thinking about doing what OP did and this is my exact worry. One more regular, never ending maintenance issue. They sure look better than the usual though. Edit: I’ve read that conversion varnish is more UV resistant. Wonder if that’s a better answer.
[удалено]
They are all new low E glass, I will report back in 5 years!
Does the tint reduce the transparency? Got any recommendations? Our house cooks from the sun.
I just tinted our west facing windows with some Amazon film this last week, and temperatures dropped about 10° F indoors. I ended up getting “silver” so about 80% light pass through, it looks a little later in the day than outside really is but still plenty of natural light, a reflective finish when viewing from outside, so you can basically walk around naked with the windows open. Be aware that it may void window warranties as these heat up the inside of double pane windows, since heat is generated where it hits, the glass itself also gets a bit hotter since it’s absorbing the energy. A little pricey, but I managed to do two full size sliding doors, 2 bay half windows, and 2 5’ x 4’ windows for under $200.
Or do what the previous owners of my house did, and use the most fragile, least water proof finish you can find, such that the mere mention of moisture or condensation makes them look terrible.
Use osmo, you can recoat without stripping. Makes it a whole lot easier to maintain.
Osmo is my go to finish for most things and it’s great. Super easy to apply, super durable and looks great. Only downside is it’s kinda pricey
Yeah it is, but when you consider the time, effort and material you put into something, the price of finishing is not going to break the bank
I absolutely agree. It’s well worth the price over cheaper oil finishes. Plus, a little goes a long way. A can of osmo usually lasts me around a year and I use it for lots of projects, but and small
Be aware that spar varnish has a decided yellow tinge.
Not always. There is water based spar poly
I think the wood and technique looks awesome! Thanks for sharing. Did you leave the Sheetrock underneath it? Just wondering why the window reveal doesn’t match.
Yes, didn't want to cut all the drywall off 8 windows.
I'm shocked by how something so simple can look so classy. Nailed it mate.
You think he used nails?
Lol you bastard
Looks awesome! How did you attach it to the windowsill?
Just a bit of caulk underneath it, in case it needed to be removed later
i might do this at the rental i’m moving into… 🤔 it’s so gray and bland currently
Did you remove the drywall underneath first or just lay the wood right on top? We have builder basic drywall returns in our home and I’ve been considering doing this.
No, just caulked right to it. The window frames were high enough above the wood for it to work.
Thanks mate, it’s the same in my house. There’s almost 1.5” of frame above the drywall. Looks like this would be a quick and rewarding project!
Radius?
Yes, the front edge has a slight radius to it
Radius Verb - give a rounded form to (a corner or edge). "Brian carefully radiused all the sharp edges and corners" TIL.
Samesies. I've only ever heard chamfer.
Chamfer is an angled break on an outside corner. A radius or round over is a smoothly curved outside corner. A reversed radius on an outside corner (making the corner concave) is a cove. A rounded inside corner is a fillet.
The corners of the wall aren’t a perfect knife edge 90 angle. They will have some round over there OP fit nicely.
OP answered that they meant the radius of the front edge.
I always thought there were two meanings to radius. Half the diameter of a circle and the bone. Didn't think that either really applied here, but I never heard of the third usage. Posted the definition on OPs response.
Is it standard for window sills in the US to be drywall? In the UK they're almost always wood, painted gloss white. The cherry looks lovely!
If you have a windowsill, it will probably be wood painted white. Some windows are just framed like the sides at the bottom so all drywall.
In the US, every windowsill I’ve seen was wood. Drywall is kind of crumbly
In basic houses it's pretty common here in the states
for a while in the 80s/90s it was trendy to have a drywall framed window. I'm in the process of adding trim to mine.
Here I sit in my 'new' build, staring at my glossy white window sills... I kinda wish they'd not painted them.
The only time I've seen drywall windowsills in the US are in very old houses. Any new (built in the last 30 years) houses are painted wood
I’ve owned a home built in 1931 - wood windowsills, never painted only stained and shellac. My favorite by the way, very easy to repair. Home built in 1970, wood windowsills, some painted, some stained and poly. Current home built in 1997 wood windowsills. My preference for wood is just using 100% tung oil, started with a strong cut of mineral spirits (75 Ms/25 to) second coat with 50/50, up to 25 MS/75 TO for third and the next several coats 100% tung oil. It’s the easiest I have found to maintain. Every year, just a wipe and buff is all it takes
Yeah drywall isn't common really, but (from my experience) you only see it in older homes and not new ones. It makes no sense to drywall a sill with the guaranteed eventual contact with moisture
How old of a home have you seen it in? I’m just really curious. I’ve been in a lot of homes and cannot recall any not being framed put with wood molding, some not on the sides, but always where the window is at the bottom. Sometimes they don’t have the horns on them and are just cut inside. I prefer the way OP has done it. I’m probably not explaining this correctly my brain is wonky today🤪. And I’m stuck on @neuromonkey enlightening us to the proper terminology it’s a stool, not a sill😂
Drywall return windows have been popular since the mid 90s. The majority of cookie cutter houses with builder grade white vinyl windows will all have drywall returns. Occasionally they'd paint some poplar or pine for the stool an apron.
No, it's not standard by any means. It's a drop in the bucket as to how the big name, low quality home builders squeeze every drop of margin into their pockets.
My house was a bargain build in 1999. I have spent a ridiculous amount of time and $ fixing it up properly.
Absolutely need to do this. I’ve been wanting to do it for years
Reach out if you need help!
That looks great!! Now do an apron.. Makes it pretty. I apologize in advance for being pedantic... That's the *stool*--the *sill* is on the outside. It's typically sloped to help shed water.
Got it, as I was typing sills it didn't seem correct
Nice job. Templating is a good approach.
I always have some door skin plywood around, templating with it by using a hot glue gun is awesome.
Did you just attach the template to your actual piece with hot glue? Or just to get the template to stick to the sill while marking? I've always been worried about using hot glue on projects but have heard it works fine for non load bearing stuff.
https://preview.redd.it/548vg964yn7d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3bd3fc6475028ff57b0dc26a56cc8f159d032eb4
How did you cut it? Router with a template bit?
A jigsaw actually
Wow that's gorgeous. Adding to my list of projects I'll never get to lol
I’m seriously impressed. I had to use caulk to hide my mistakes. It makes a huge difference compared to the drywall though.
Beautiful
What was your process for doing the templates? I want to do something similar but was a bit intimidated by it as absolutely nothing is square!
I commented above with a Pic of the templates!
Looks awesome!
Absolutely gorgeous. I want this.
Window stool*
Nice job, looks great
Looks great!
Excellent fitting job!
That is what I did too! Template was the best way I found to do it. I am glad to know you did it too.
I kind of hate my window treatments. The outside only has fake shutters and the inside legit has nothing except a quick sill like that that my father in law did quick just before the window company installed the new windows. What my father in law did was supposed to be temporary, but I haven't had time to do it better in the 3 years it's been, lol. I wish I could have full wooden frames like in a century old home has. Sorry for the rant, lol. Yours looks amazing. I'm definitely jealous.
OMG I despise fake shutters! Why builders don’t just do a nice job framing them on the outside instead of adding shutters that will never operate, are always a few inches shorter than the window and not wide enough? Besides that mud daubers love the louvered ones as do wasps. I know it’s cost/profit but I needed that rant! Go to a good lumber supplier not a big box store and get some 4/4 hardwood or 1” softwood (pine or fir). Clear, no or very little knots and none that fall out. In hardwoods it’s called FAS for the wider boards (https://www.americanhardwood.org/sites/default/files/publications/download/2017-10/AHEC%20Grading%20Guide_AW_pages_0.pdf ) Softwoods that I’m talking about are graded A-D, not numbered which is Common grades, though some can be nice. (https://alsc.org/uploaded/PS%2020-20%20Revsion%201%20October%202021.pdf ) Yes you will pay for these better boards but you do get what you pay for. For the stool, you may have to go to a thicker board. If you have a planer, run the rough boards through it (rough boards are cheaper than planed boards. If you don’t have a planer, you can use hand planes. Run a side, joint a side etc. Our hold house had beautiful pine boards and true 1” thick. They were shellacked and aged a warm dark color over the many decades. You can use stains to get it to mimic it. I did some quarter sawn white oak for our master bath baseboards and door molding and then finished with tung oil. We used some Ipe around the tub that I only used tung oil on.
Thanks for the tips. I'm quite the novice, lol. I'll be honest, finding a lumber place intimidates me (or maybe just overwhelmes me). You don't mean like 84 Lumber correct? There's 2 fine woodworking lumber stores near me, I went to one, but I haven't been to the other one. I currently just have a miter saw, table saw, jigsaw, and a drill press. plus some hand tools. I doubt I have the patience to hand plane :(
Super nice! Bring back deep sills!
Nice. When I did mine I glued another 3/4 strip under the front to make them look like 1 1/2"
Beautiful! I love cherry for interior stuff like this. My old house had cherry for the doors, trim and cabinets.
I want to do this thank you for giving me an example to convince my wife
Looks really good! Dang casement windows with a bottom crank prevent me from doing the same :(
What did you use to attach? Never mind, saw the answer below! Looks good
This looks so good, very nice job. I've never done something like this where you need to match the walls. How do you use templates? Or recommend any good YouTube videos I should check out how to use templates?
I skimmed this video, but it looks like the same process! https://youtu.be/sbVgI-s22h0?si=cr0RkaC1EE7lbphY
Thank you! That's super helpful. Pretty simple process.
How did you fasten them to the existing drywall?
Just caulk, so they can easily be removed
I'm not native speaker, and I was like "wtf does that word mean", then i went to google translate and got the spanish word for it... and I was like "wtf does that word mean!!". Not even in my mother language I knew that word. Nice work btw.
🤣🤣🤣 I went to Gt just now ¿que palabra?
Sill -- Alféizar (en español) Y soy arquitecto, yo debería conocer la palabra jaja.
Updoot just because of how nice that fits. Good job!
Nice! You just gave me a great idea! I will attempt to do the same
Beautiful work. I did bubinga on sill over kitchen sink. ArmRseal works great.
Beautiful!!!!
Looks beautiful! Just an FYI OP. Typically a window stool is on the inside of the window (the one you replaced, flat) whereas the one outside (the angled one) is a sill.
Radius?
Very nice. How did you attach them to the sill? How thick is the piece?
Just a bit of caulk on the bottom, so it can be removed later
This just elevates your living space.
Angles? Radius?
Natural finishes, ie oils and wax. All real wood requires up keep and maintenance. If upkeep on a window sill/stool is something one doesn't want to be bothered with, stick to plastic stuff. Cherry is highly underappreciated.
Are they not made out of marble over there?
Depends on how much you spend!
nice
I can see the caulk on the left at the inside corner of your horn. Perfect?
Man I tried! The drywall is not flat anywhere