Timber and window repairs in BrisbaneQuotes from QBCC-licensed carpenters for rotten timber, windows and weatherboards

Timber window and rot repair jobs

Window sills and frames

Sills hold water against the frame and rot first, usually at the ends. Soft timber is cut back to sound wood and a new section spliced in, or the whole sill replaced in matching timber, then primed and ready to paint.

Casement and sash windows that stick or rattle

Casement windows that bind are eased and rehung on new hinges or stays. Sash windows that won't slide usually have broken cords, painted-shut beads or swollen sashes; they're freed, re-corded and adjusted so they open and stay open.

Weatherboards and fascias

Split, cupped or rotten weatherboards replaced with boards of the same profile, and fascia boards replaced where gutters have overflowed into them. The gutters themselves are a roof plumbing job.

Door jambs and thresholds

The bottom of a door jamb on a back or verandah door is where water sits. It's cut back and a new piece spliced in, with the threshold replaced if it has rotted too.

Termite-damaged timber

Once a pest manager has dealt with the termites, damaged trims, skirting, frames and boards are cut out and replaced. Damage to load-bearing framing is structural work: over $3,300 it needs a contractor whose QBCC licence class covers framing.

How much do timber window repairs cost in Brisbane?

Rot repairs are priced on how far the rot has gone and how much has to be cut out. A soft corner on one sill is a short job; a sill and the bottom of both jamb sides, or several weatherboards around a leaking window, takes longer. Matching an old profile, working at height on a highset house and painting the new timber all add to the price.

Sash windows are usually priced per window, by how many cords, weights or spiral balances need replacing and whether the sashes have to come out.

For carpenters' published hourly and call-out rates, see carpenter rates in Brisbane. A repair job valued over $3,300 in total, counting labour, materials and GST, needs a QBCC-licensed contractor.

Repair or replace a timber window?

Most timber windows can be repaired if the rot is confined to the sill, the bottom rail of a sash or the base of the frame. When the rot runs up both sides of the frame, or the window has been patched before and is failing again, a new window in the same opening can be better value.

Repairs keep the original window and its glass, which matters on older houses where the windows are part of the house's character.

• Rot confined to the sill or the bottom of the frame: repair
• Sashes that stick but are sound: free, re-cord and adjust
• Rot through the frame on several sides: consider replacing
• A character house in a character overlay: check before replacing with a different style

Windows on Queenslanders and character houses

In Brisbane City Council's Traditional building character and pre-1911 overlays, City Plan's list of accepted development includes taking out windows and doors so they can be replaced with new features "of the same style and appearance consistent with traditional building character". Changing the style of windows on the street front is a different question. See renovating a Queenslander for how to check whether your house is in an overlay.

Rot in wall, floor or verandah framing

When rot or termite damage reaches studs, bearers, joists or verandah posts that carry load, it's a structural repair. Under Queensland's Building Regulation 2021, structural repairs affecting no more than 20% of a building's structural components of the same type can be self-assessable; Brisbane City Council's storm-repair fact sheet lists repairs to more than 20% of framing members as needing a building approval.

Over $3,300, structural repairs need a contractor whose QBCC licence class covers the work: the carpentry class includes wall, roof and subfloor framing. See carpenter or builder: QBCC licences.

What to send with your enquiry

• Where the timber is soft or rotten: sill, frame, weatherboard, fascia, jamb
• How many spots, and roughly how big each is
• For windows: casement or sash, and what's wrong with them
• Whether the house is highset or lowset, and the height of the work
• Photos of each spot, with a tape measure in shot
• When the house was built

Questions about timber and window repairs in Brisbane