Readytouse, latexbased product used to fill cracks, fastener or knot holes and level low areas in plywood subfloors or concrete surfaces. I used it to fill holes where water had seeped into the screw holes and rotted the wood over time. Moisture inside the house will naturally migrate to the outside. During winter months complaints usually start trickling in. Press filler into cracks and holes using an evenedge trowel. Bondo will not accept stain but if you color it to match the wood, it will work fine on a natural floor. Wood putty vs wood filler when to use each woodworking. Any solid filler epoxy, bondo is going to prevent the floor from expandingmoving, and it will buckle or split again, depending on the time of year that you treat it. The best substances for plugging holes and filling cracks, with this old house general contractor tom silva. When it comes to fixing minor imperfections in woodworking or wood finishing around the house, it can be common to use a nonwood putty or filler to do the job. How to fill gaps in a wideplank wood floor this old house this old house. A safe, nonflammable, waterbased product for use across an entire wood floor.
A palm sander allows you to work edges and finesse the sander to achieve. Filling these blemishes is the role of wood putty or wood filler, two products that sound the same but which have important differences. The wood gets wet, soaks up the water, expands and then drys out, contracting and. The good news is the cracks can be fixed so the floor looks brand new. Wood filler is a great tool to help you fix the surface of a wood piece. This wood filler is the best choice for repairing any wooden item in or around your home. Filling cracks on an exterior patio deck do it yourself. Bondo works great as a hole filler, mix up small batches and apply with a. Because it is a 2part wood filler, bondo wood filler cures fast and sands in 15 minutes. It is one of those products that is always good to have in your home repair kit. Best wood filler for every project, a buyers guide bob vila. Small gaps, cracks, dents are not hard to fill and anyone can do it. Epoxy is an excellent glue, and when mixed with the appropriate filler materials like wood dust or microspheres is a good filler for wood.
Latex filler is water based, stainable similar to soft wood, easy to apply and sand. If you have old, worn out, even rotting woodwork on your home, and you want to save money on expensive replacement costs, try bondo. Hardwood flooring filler prefinished, unfinished floors. Bondo dries super hard and doesnt sand quite as easily as wood filler. Can i use bondo to repair a concrete garden sculpture. Permanently repairs damaged and rotted wood by using this bondo wood filler. How to repair wood with bondo wood filler and rotted wood restorer. Bondo home solutions wood filler rebuilds, restores and replaces rotted or damaged sections of wood on doors, windows, fences, furniture, shutters and more. The products can be used to repair and restore aluminum, wood, concrete, brick, metal, fiberglass, stone and sheet rock.
This fast curing twopart filler allows you to make highquality, longlasting repairs to metal, masonry, concrete, wood, drywall and more. How to choose and use wood filler this old house youtube. Wood putty is a handy item but it will not solve all your wood floor problems. If you poured a filler into the holes in the base, it would likely run out of the cracks and all over the work surface. When applying wood filler, over fill the hole slightly to compensate for shrinkage as the filler dries. In fact, it works so well that the makers of bondo now sell a similar epoxy product just for wood. Bondo also makes a product called bondo wood filler. How to fill gaps in a wideplank wood floor this old house. The floor patch and leveler will remain flexible allowing the plywood subfloor to flex without cracking the filledin areas. Confused about what to buy to fill knots or cracks in wood. But my finish will run into those gaps and fill them nice and flush, right. Shopping list for how to fill gaps in a wideplank wood floor. If youre hesitant, this stepbystep repair will demystify the process. How to repair wood with bondo wood filler and rotted wood.
A thin layer of oil based wood filler can be applied to any wooden floor and allowed. If the cabinet will be painted, bondo is your best route. One is that the wood is cracked and starting to split on the lower front area, and the other is that there is a bizarre hole on top that needs to be. This product fills nail holes and covers other minor imperfections in bare and unfinished wood. How to fill in gaps between hardwood flooring with wood. Use bondo professional gold or bondo ultimate to make your autobody repair easier. Wood filler is often used to repair or restore damaged wooden articles by masking any cracks or indentations in the wood. Fill the freezer bag with the bondo mixture, then snip off a corner. Filling all the cracks individually with a putty knife prior to sanding is usually a big job, but you can make it considerably easier by spreading filler over the entire floor with a float. Defects in most hardwood floors stand out like a sore thumb or a pimple on a forehead because of the flat shiny finish you see on most hardwood floors. Use vinyl spackling compound or waterbased wood filler to fill small holes on interior surfaces. The process involves filling the crack and after allowing the filler to cure, sanding it to a smooth, level finish.
Us too, so we put 11 wood fillers and epoxies to the test. In this video, this old house general contractor tom silva suggests the best substances for plugging holes and filling cracks. If you are not sanding and refinishing the wood at this time you will have to keep the. Applying a stain over wood filler spots is not a very difficult task either. This bookcase has a few minor issues that need to be addressed. Another thing that can push bondo out of the wood is called vapor drive. Squeeze in a latex filler, and expect to apply several coats to fill the gaps. In addition to its uses on vehicle exteriors and other metal surfaces it is also a suitable repair option for wood, fiberglass and concrete. Gapping is a common problem with older wood flooring as the wood shrinks over time. It has a fast dry time, blends and adheres well to wood, sands easily and absorbs stain similarly to wood. Rarely do you have to refinish the entire floor, but in certain instances its required.
A previous homeowner put wood putty between each plank and its now cracking and falling out. Bondo is a putty made of polyester resin and cabosil, an inert filler, catalyzed by an organic peroxide. Wood putty is soft and doughlike, which allows you to spread and pack it into large floor cracks with a putty knife. Bondo fiberglass resin is the same highstrength polyester resin that is used to build most highperformance watercraft. When you sand the floor, the machine will remove excess filler from the surface of the wood and leave it only in the gaps. If you use cheap wood putty you will have cracking and dry. Dont use wood glue and dust to make filler it always dries more yellow that you think unsightly. How to repair hardwood floor cracks ask the builder. How to use bondo to patch drywall home guides sf gate. The bondo name is used like kleenex to refer to any mix of polyester filler. Medium brown in color when mixed, bondo wood filler is stainable and paintable, making it perfect for almost any wood surface inside or outside of the home.
Even the most expert woodworker faces open cracks in joints or nail holes in their woodworking projects. Filling cracks on an exterior patio deck sign in to follow this. Ive seen examples of bondo pushed clear off of a window sill and laying on the ground. So you would cut out parts of the existing planks with a circular saw set to the depth of the wood so you dont cut other things and notch out a few planks dremel might help here too. Using an epoxy wood filler is a great way to restore rotted wood. This product is substantially different than the other two products. The purpose of this blog is to deal with questions we get so often when it comes to epoxy floor coatings.
The nonshrinking filler features a thicker formulation that makes it ideal for repairing vertical surfaces. How do i prep and finish the floor in the bathroom. Fill in the gap with wood filler, leave the wood filler to dry, and wipe. If its a stain grade product do not use bondo, wood putty will have to do, i just hope its not a big hole to be patchedin time it will crack. Since these questions most often come from residential homeowners concerning their garage or basement floors, ill concentrate our answers to this audience. Bondo dries in less than 30 minutes and only requires one coat. Both are excellent for use as filling agents with wood.
Bondo, the same product used as autobody epoxy filler, has been used by handymen for years to repair damaged wood. Often its a floor owner concerned with new hardwood floors separating or gapping. After the putty dries, you can stain and seal it along with the rest of the floor. Glitza wood flour cement mixed with 80 grit wood dust that matches the wood of your floor. Just like caulk is too flexible to effectively fill large gaps in wood, bondo is too stiff to do the same. Using epoxy putty to fill cracks in old plank floor. Put on a second coat next day with colorant that is level with floor or a little higher.
It might not be the best solution for fine woodworking where the end product is also seen as a work of art, but for those. Minwax high performance wood filler is a twopart wood filler for filling gouges, holes and damaged areas in wood and acts as a wood adhesive. Wood filler is also known as wood putty and less commonly as wood patch. It doesnt take long before at least small cracks open up and water gets trapped in the crevices. While i have had mostly good luck using bondo body filler for wood repair i think the bondo wood filler might be a better product for wood. These can be spot repaired with some angled nails to secure the two pieces together, along with some wood putty to hide the blemishes. Wood filler tips epoxy wood filler hardwood floors mn.
It has apparently been wet before and the wood is rotted. Its hardness makes it a superior wood filler, and its. How to use bondo to repair cracks and holes in wood. If your floor is suffering from large cracks, however, you might want to think about refinishing the floor. The best wood filler for large holes wood floor repair, wood. Bondo is a twopart polyesterresin putty developed for auto body repair, but thinkers outside the box have discovered other uses for it.
Once dried, it can be sanded, shaped, planed, drilled, routed or sawed just like wood. Bondo is not really a wood floor filler, but years ago i did use it on a few floors and it worked well. Cracks, divots, holes, or rot can crop up on wooden surfaces due to ordinary wearandtear, accidents, and during doityourself projects. Constant exposure to moisture and heat causes wood deck boards to crack, and small or hairline cracks are an unavoidable consequence of your decks aging process. A fair amount of the information is applicable to the commercial environment as well. Wood putty tends to crack when it dryes up, especially after a finish is applied. To prevent this, you first need to dam the cracks with epoxy putty. I get it you dont want me to put filler in those cracks. Ensures good quality and durability for longer life. In this video, i show you how to fill in gaps between hardwood flooring with wood filler. Bondo body filler cures fast, shapes in minutes and is formulated to be a nonshrinking and permanently durable material. Over the years, many hardwood floors develop small splits or cracks in the surface of the wood.