My house was built in 1988. As far as I know, the windows were bought from
Lowe's. Today, my son's dog chewed up a window ledge or sill (inside). It appears
that the piece that needs to be replaced was installed as a complete unit. It
appears that the entire window has to come out. My guess is that it will be
impossible to match the style of the wood.

In trying to understand how the window frame is assembled, I removed the "skirt"
beneath an identical window in the bathroom. It had been (poorly) secured when
it was nailed with a nail gun. Some of the nails missed the underlying wood
frame. When I removed the piece, I noticed that the window seems to be poorly
installed. Cold air leaks around the frame. The big question, though, is how do
I back the nails out without splintering the face of the molding? When I tapped
them out, the face splintered, even after I removed the colored filler putty
that was used to fill the nail holes. Should I have pulled them through?

Do you have any suggestions on repairing the window frame? My carpentry skills
are not good, and I don't know what resources are available at Lowe's or Home
Depot. Is there a company that can match the molding so that I can put this
window back together? Unfortunately I don't know what brand they are.

mcp6453 wrote:

My house was built in 1988...

Sorry for the double post.

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:09:40 -0500, mcp6453 wrote:

My house was built in 1988. As far as I know, the windows were bought from
Lowe's. Today, my son's dog chewed up a window ledge or sill (inside). It appears
that the piece that needs to be replaced was installed as a complete unit. It
appears that the entire window has to come out. My guess is that it will be
impossible to match the style of the wood.

In trying to understand how the window frame is assembled, I removed the "skirt"
beneath an identical window in the bathroom. It had been (poorly) secured when
it was nailed with a nail gun. Some of the nails missed the underlying wood
frame. When I removed the piece, I noticed that the window seems to be poorly
installed. Cold air leaks around the frame. The big question, though, is how do
I back the nails out without splintering the face of the molding? When I tapped
them out, the face splintered, even after I removed the colored filler putty
that was used to fill the nail holes. Should I have pulled them through?

Do you have any suggestions on repairing the window frame? My carpentry skills
are not good, and I don't know what resources are available at Lowe's or Home
Depot. Is there a company that can match the molding so that I can put this
window back together? Unfortunately I don't know what brand they are.


With a skinny nail set, punch the nails completely through the wood.
It is not a difficult task to replace a sill. Even without carpentry
skills, it can be done with a few hand tools. Sharpen 2-3 chisels
before you begin. I'm guessing the wood is stained, and in that case
to make everything match, you'll need to refinish the entire window
trim which is the most difficult part of the job. Or, why not make it
easy and have a (responsible) son fix it?