Law of Attraction Club

Filling Holes in House Wood as You Prep to Paint then Smooth by Sanding

It would be easier if your wooden home needed no more than a little bit of house repair. Just scrape and caulk a bit, put down a drop cloth or two, and apply a few coats of outdoor acrylic paint. Maintaining your house is more difficult. For a wide variety of reasons, you usually have to patch the wood exterior of your home.

My property required more than just some new paint. The galvanized sheet metal edging near the roof gutters leaked and allowed rainwater to soak the facing board under the gutter. As the house aged, these facing boards became rotten and caved in the painted surface. I was determined to fix this myself. It did not seem like wood putty could fill in the gaps properly. A co-worker repaired his wooden home often fighting termite infestations. These jobs held up very well. I asked him his secret.

Use Bondo to Fill Wood and Use Power Tools to Sand

He revealed that an experienced handyman suggested to him to use Bondo to repair larger holes in wood. For some background look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondo_(putty) Bondo was great for car dents. Bondo was heavy and durable. Bondo permitted sanding and lathing. When he suggested doing this, It was obvious that repairs done this way would work. When making repairs, the trick is to fill in the large holes in layers with big gobs initially and then thinner layers at the end. Bondo allows you to form shapes with molds, if you use wood molding and wax paper. To sand before priming and painting purchase one of the best belt sanders for sanding the Bondo and wood smooth.

For those of you who own an old wood deck, you could also use Bondo to fix splits in the flooring of wood decks of various types. It is sometimes necessary, when you are waterproofing an old redwood deck. You should note that Bondo finishes with a reddish hew and this will show through, if you only use a light colored water proofing on your wood deck. When you desire to waterproof a wooden deck after patching with Bondo, just cover it with a dark stain. Finally you do not need to find an auto parts store to get Bondo. It is easy to find Bondo at Lowes or Home Depot. Incidentally, my painting prep job has not shrunk at all over the years.