Timber repairs in Broadstairs.

The Broadstairs timber problem

Regency and Victorian stock across Broadstairs is 80% about the timber. Sash windows sit in painted timber frames, the frames sit in painted timber sills, the sills are exposed to the sea-facing weather. Once the exterior paint has been breached and rain has been getting to the timber for a season or two, the sill and the bottom rail of the sash frame start rotting. On the seafront belt it happens fast. On sheltered inland runs it happens slowly. Either way, the fix is early intervention before the rot has run the length of the sill.

Epoxy repair on smaller rot

For rot that has not yet run the length of the timber and where the underlying grain is still sound below the softened surface, epoxy consolidation and filling is the right answer. Repair-Care or an equivalent structural epoxy system: cut out the soft, treat the surrounding sound timber with consolidant, fill the void with the two-part filler, shape and sand back, prime and paint. £120 to £280 per sill for a typical Broadstairs Regency-cottage sash sill. Buys 8 to 15 years of further working life.

Splice-in for larger rot

Where the rot has run further and the sound timber is only in the back half of the cross-section, epoxy is a bodge. The right answer is a splice-in: cut back to sound timber, machine a matching profile in seasoned redwood or accoya, glue and screw-fix the splice with marine adhesive, prime and finish. £180 to £420 per section depending on profile complexity and access. This is the answer for most of the sea-view sash sills we see.

Weatherboard, cladding and exterior trim

Broadstairs has a run of weatherboard-clad Victorian stock, particularly along Stone Road and the streets above Stone Bay. Weatherboard patches (rotted board sections replaced like-for-like) £90 to £180 per board. Full board replacement per elevation runs to a bigger scope. Feather-edge cladding, tongue-and-groove cladding and shiplap all fit here. Same story on exterior corner boards and window architrave.

Interior timber

Skirting, architrave, dado and picture rails, floorboard patches. Interior work is easier because it is out of the weather: standard hand-tool repair with matching profile timber, prime and paint or wax finish. £95 call-out (first hour included), £45/hour after for interior timber repair, most jobs a single-visit.