I have a question dealing with paint prep for the exterior of my house. I have scraped/sanded my cedar siding on the gable of my house. It is vertical t&g about 50 years old. Some of the knots have become so loose that I chipped them out and now have a few pretty good sized holes. I want to know the best material to fill them with. Has anyone used exterior vinyl spackle? how is it holding up? I was also thinking of using that 2 part epoxy putty. I just don’t want whatever I use to pop out 1 or 2 years after I paint it. The biggest hole is probably 1 3/4″. Thanks for any advice
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I have had good luck using an exterior wood filler product made by minwax. It's an epoxy system. comes in a small yellow tin with a white plastic top. You pre-mix the hardner with the filler. Once you mix you have about ten minutes of working time, so have everything prepared in advance. If you have a good size hole you'll have to fill in stages. Also you can make a little form to hold the filler until it dries. Once you build up to the thickness you need just snad the surface smooth with a random orbit sander, prime abd paint. Good luck.
Although Minwax is effective I don't think it's any different than Bondo type fillers, which are much cheaper. Bondo even has a filler with fiberglass threads that's good for larger holes.
As for holding up in weather, Bondo is for cars, a far more difficult substrate than houses. If a hole is large, screws set diagonally all around will give something extra to hold to.
For painting knots aluminum paint works better than anything I've found, never gets burned through.
Edited 7/29/2005 7:26 pm ET by Jeff2
abatron wood epox a/b formula.... then sand with ascendind grits to 220 , two coats of de-waxed shellac .. sand /scuff it up two coats primer . then paint...." Wisdom has taught us to be calm and meek,To take one blow, and turn the other cheek...... to hell with that, keep your hands to yourself "
Fillers tend not to last long in big holes. For ones that size, you might be better off to glue in a wood "dutchman" and only use filler for the small remaining gaps.
-- J.S.
Maybe a real painter will give you better advice, but couldn't you use bondo.
I use it all the time on interior work, don't know how it would hold up to the weather?
Doug
Edited 7/29/2005 7:13 pm ET by Doug@es