How do I remove wedges?

[Courtly Decades]

Hi
I'm brand new to this amazing site and hope someone can answer my question.

My home has 27 silky oak casement windows installed about 90 years ago, many of them out of square. I have carefully removed the glass, putty and lead paint from the first one and found there are soft/spongey wedges in the mortice & tenon joints. I can remove one that is protruding from the stile but I'm not sure how to remove the others to check their condition.

Any tips on how to remove wedges?

Thanks in advance

Peter

[markharrison]

Without dismantling the windows, you can only see what you can see.

Usually rot in windows will be at the end of any cracks in the glass and the lower rail, probably in the joins to the stile which usually means the rail is also compromised. If there are multiple lights (aka panes) in the window frame, you will also need to look at the muntins.

If there was rot in the wedges you could just pull out, I would be greater than 85% certain the rest of the joint is compromised.

Then it gets down to what you are going to do about it. If you have the skills or the confidence to have a crack, they are probably repairable. Good luck finding someone to do it for you! That said, nobody is going to tell you doing this yourself is just going to be semi-tough!

I would also be looking at the sills near the stiles. I'd bet there are problems there too.

Post some photos and we will have a better idea of what is going on.

[Courtly Decades]

Hi
Thanks for your advice. I suspect there may be issues with the other components of the windows/joints. I realised after I posted that there is a simple way to remove wedges. Just drive a small screw partly into the wedge then pull it out 🤦🏼♂️. I removed one and will start removing the others to see what the overall condition of the window is.

Fortunately they are made from silky oak (grevillea robusta) which seems to have reasonable resistance to rot and insect attack.

Peter

Without dismantling the windows, you can only see what you can see.

Usually rot in windows will be at the end of any cracks in the glass and the lower rail, probably in the joins to the stile which usually means the rail is also compromised. If there are multiple lights (aka panes) in the window frame, you will also need to look at the muntins.

If there was rot in the wedges you could just pull out, I would be greater than 85% certain the rest of the joint is compromised.

Then it gets down to what you are going to do about it. If you have the skills or the confidence to have a crack, they are probably repairable. Good luck finding someone to do it for you! That said, nobody is going to tell you doing this yourself is just going to be semi-tough!

I would also be looking at the sills near the stiles. I'd bet there are problems there too.

Post some photos and we will have a better idea of what is going on.

[Courtly Decades]

Hi Mark
Thanks for the response. I'll take all that on board.

I realised after I posted that I could just drive a small screw partly into the wedge and use that to pull the wedge out. I removed one that way and will now remove each of them so I can properly assess the condition of all the joints. I'm hopeful that they aren't too badly compromised mainly because the material used to construct them, silky oak (grevillea robusta) is reasonably resistant to decay and insect attack.

I'll let you know how I go and take some photos of the joints when I have gained better access to them.

Peter