Filling Holes in Wooden Houses when Preparing to Paint then Finish by Sanding
Homeowners would enjoy it if a wood building like your home did not require much more than basic home maintenance. Only caulk and scrape a bit, put down a drop cloth or two, and roll on some layers of outdoor acrylic paint. Well, it just is not so easy. Instead, you usually have to repair the wooden facings of your home.
My property required a lot more be done. The galvanized metal under my shingles was badly done and allowed rainwater to soak the overhang board. As the house aged, these facing boards shrunk and the paint fell away. I was determined to fix this myself. It did not seem like wood putty would do the job. My buddy next door repaired his wooden home often fighting rot from termites. This guy’s work quality stood the test of time. He knew something I did not.
Fill in Wood Holes with Bondo and Use Power Tools to Sand
He told me a contractor had recommended to always apply Bondo to repair cracks in the wood. For some background see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondo_(putty) I knew how Bondo worked on cars. Bondo did not shrink. Bondo could be sanded. When he brought up using this auto filler, I instantly knew that it would do the job. With auto filler, the method is to do the job in steps with big gobs initially and less material thereafter. Bondo allows you to form shapes with molds, combining molding boards and regular kitchen wax paper. To prep for painting by sanding all you need to do is to use one of the belt sanders to make the Bondo blend smoothly with the wood.
Homeowners with an old wood deck, you could also apply Bondo to repair cracks in the planks of a wood deck design. It is useful, when you are refinishing redwood decks. Consider that Bondo finishes with a reddish hew and that will be what you see, when using a light colored water sealant on your wood deck. If you intend to waterproof a lumber deck after patching with Bondo, you will get the best results with prime and painting. Also you don’t have to look for an auto parts store to get Bondo. Just look for Bondo at Lowes or Home Depot. You probably would also like to know that my house wood fixing job has not shrunk at all over the years.