PVC vs. African Mahogany for Stucco Brickmould?
Recently spent a fortune to have replicas of our 100 yr old wood windows made of Mahagoany and 1/4 laminated glass. We’ve spent money over the years to try to have the windows maintained and restored. This time the painting and restoration company said that the windows were too far gone to where it would not be worthwhile to pay them to do the work vs. investing the money in high quality reproductions. They showed me and explained that many parts of the window were being held together with paint and combinations of dutchman repairs, bondo, and epoxy repairs.
I have to make a decision on replacing the painted brickmould where I’ve previously had some dryrot in on section of the arch and multiple sections of the window stop. The brickmould and window stops appear to be original, old growth redwood. The contractor is urging me consider PVC for the new brickmould since he could offer lifetime warranty and make the arch in one piece vs. multiple pieces of wood. He is happy to do either with no change in price…explaining he wants me to be happy and wants to offer me the best materials in his opinion. I’m leaning towards wood since manufactured materials look a bit too perfect.
My goal is to have replica wood windows that look as close to the original as possible and have the same durability. I’m leaning towards using the same African mahagony that I had the windows made from, but wanted to task for the opinion of those of you that have more experience in this area. Thank you!
Replies
I'm a PVC all the way carpenter and would never use a wood brickmould if I could help it. I think if you sanded the sharp corners on the PVC and painted it no one would ever know it wasn't wood.
Agree - PVC
And, FWIW, African mahogany is endangered. Oil wells, not so much.
Thank you!
The carpenter gave me two choices. Fashion the PVC using a router to reproduce what is there today or do the same thing with 3 long pieces of Mahogany so that he is avoid joints in the arch. He says that he can bend the thinner pieces of wood.
Would the 3 different pieces of wood introduce more places for water damage than a single piece?
Would you still recommend PVC despite the expansion/contraction that could result in gaps? Any issue with dark colored paint? Our trim is a very dark brown...almost black.
Thank you!