Window Rot

[NightHawkNZ]

We bought a house approx. 3yrs ago and the previous owners did not open the windows. This has resulted in water sitting on the window sills and has cause the corners of the wooden frame to rot. To fix this I have removed the rot and filled it in with wood filler and got an HRV system. This is a temporary fix.

The side of the house which has the rotten window sill is approx. 10m2. We determined that we will need to remove the existing fibre cement cladding and have new cladding installed.
So far I have an idea of how much it will cost to remove the existing cladding.

How much would it cost to put up new cladding on this section of the house? i.e. weatherboards.
Is there anything we could do that would keep things simple and cost-effective to resolve the problem?

The cladding on the house is in good condition and doesn't need to be replaced unnecessarily. I am trying to keep the costs to a minimum as we have already spent a
lot on house to fix it up. The house is a single-level dwelling.

We had advice that we don't need to action anything immediately and can wait till summer before we decide to anything more.

[Bobsyouruncle]

As you have stopped the problem and removed the rot you could do nothing for years, probably decades in reality.
And why do you have to replace perfectly good hardipanel cladding to fix the windows???

[NightHawkNZ]

Further to the point

As you have stopped the problem and removed the rot you could do nothing for years, probably decades in reality.
And why do you have to replace perfectly good hardipanel cladding to fix the windows???

The exterior timber that frames the aluminium window on the outside of the house is not rotten. It is only the window sill inside the house that is.

I don't want to disturb the cladding as it contains asbestos and is in good condition just needs an occassional paint.

I think the thing that concerns me is the fact I have used wood filler rather than rebuild the frame. If I sand over the window sill and the wood filler and then paint, it should be good, right?

I guess if there is rot on the outside of the window, I would need to be more concerned for weather tightness. I guess if I keep an eye on the condition of the window sills and
ensure they are painted every so often then I should be okay?!?

[Bobsyouruncle]

Without being there or having a builder look at it, in principle the answer is yes. You've arrested the problem. Just keep an eye on it and worry about it in 20 years.