Wood choice for replacement sash

[FrankAtl]

I've got a couple of windows with some rot in the sash so I'm going to take a stab at making replacements. Looking for recommendations on wood species to use.

[jteneyck]

I've got a couple of windows with some rot in the sash so I'm going to take a stab at making replacements. Looking for recommendations on wood species to use.

Funny, I just worked on some for a friend this weekend.  He paid over $20 for each piece of bottom sash for some Anderson windows.  I just had to cut them down to the right length and end profile since his were custom made at the time.  

Anyway, for paint grade Spanish cedar, most any mahogany, and good old white pine would make fine choices.  The ones he had were pine.  

John

[fixtureman]

redwood lasts long and is easy to shape also cedar

[FrankAtl]

Thanks guys. They will be painted and I'd hate to paint an expensive wood like Spanish Cedar or Mahogany. What would you think about Cypress?

[barnowl]

Thanks guys. They will be painted and I'd hate to paint an expensive wood like Spanish Cedar or Mahogany. What would you think about Cypress?

I prefer poplar. It works well, and paints well.

[jteneyck]

I prefer poplar. It works well, and paints well.

Poplar works great and paints well, but its rot resistance is low.  

John

[jteneyck]

Thanks guys. They will be painted and I'd hate to paint an expensive wood like Spanish Cedar or Mahogany. What would you think about Cypress?

Sapele would be another great choice.  It costs $5.50 at my wood supplier's place.  Genuine mahogany and Spanish cedar, and I think white pine, are around $10.50.  I don't know how much cypress costs, but for a couple of windows, the difference in cost of the wood isn't going to matter much.  

John

[FrankAtl]

Usually, if I'm going to paint wood I'll use Poplar but these windows get beat pretty hard by the afternoon and evening sun and both have rotten places in them which is why I considered Cypress. Looks like I can get 8/4 for about $7.00 a bd/ft around here. I have some quarter sawn Sapele but painting that would make me cry. Maybe I need to get over that?! I know a sash doesn't take that much wood but still...

[jteneyck]

Usually, if I'm going to paint wood I'll use Poplar but these windows get beat pretty hard by the afternoon and evening sun and both have rotten places in them which is why I considered Cypress. Looks like I can get 8/4 for about $7.00 a bd/ft around here. I have some quarter sawn Sapele but painting that would make me cry. Maybe I need to get over that?! I know a sash doesn't take that much wood but still...

Yep, use good stuff.  Cypress these days ain't what it used to be, but probably is fine as long as it's painted well.  I was in Boston several years ago and saw workers rehabbing doors on several houses.  All were painted black, green, or some other color.  Every one that I saw where they had sanded them enough to see the raw wood was made from mahogany.  200 years old, some of them.  It wasn't a cheap wood back then either, but it turned out to be a pretty good choice.  The doors structurally were fine, just needed new paint.   

FWIW, the millwork shop I go to to buy lumber uses Sapele over any other exterior wood unless the architect specifically calls out something else.  The guy I know there says it's the best performance vs cost wood they have, and they have about anything you can think of.   

John

[FrankAtl]

Well, I do already have the Sapele, in the thickness I need and it's kind of in the way, so I guess that's as good a choice as any.

Thanks for the comments!