Filler for outdoor wood - suggestions?

[tinnews]

I want some filler to make good some old very weathered wood on a shed/summerhouse. It needs to be able to fill holes up to a cm. or so across I guess and I'd like it to provide some mechanical strength as well. The basic woodwork is pretty sound but some edges and corners could do with a bit of 'assistance'. I'm not too worried about looks I just want to make it last a few years longer.

What does the uk.d-i-y panel suggest?

[DIY]

Well, I would suggest Tetrion wood filler.

[The Medway Handyman]

is wot I use.

[Stuart Noble]

Interesting, a solvent based filler. At that price I might stick to car body filler, but I imagine this would be easier to use

[chris French]

I've not used the Wickes one, but assuming it is the same as the other makes on the market, such as Ronseal, then no, it's no easier to use than car body filler.

In fact, it appears to be the same stuff, just a different colour.

I'd suggest a big tin of car body filler. It's a faff doing a bigger job though as it doesn't stay workable for long, so lots of mixing of batches and cleaning of tools (I find coarse wire wool good for cleaning off the not yet set stuff from spreaders etc.)

[mail]

Dear Chris Green IF you need structural strength there is only one option on the market which has found favour with me in over 30 years of repairing wood of all types in all environments. That is "Windowcare" resin. It is a dutch product and a two part expoxy resin which has very similar working properties as wood - for example planing etc It is ferociously expensive but if you use it as a glue to put in real wood that saves money

I cannot find immediately the source but an example of a contractor using it is here

back to me if you decide you want to use it Chris See

[Pete C]

Whatever filler is used, I'd either clean out the decayed wood with a small rotary wire brush, and/or screw some small brass screws into the back of the hole to be filled.

This should help give the filler some extra grip in case of seasonal movement in the wood.

cheers, Pete.

[Tim Decker]

I ccan recommend this Wickes Hardener as well. T

makes the soft wood very hard and provides a good base for the filler. The other piece of advice I will give is to get the product in, sanded down and painted ASAP. I did some repairs over the summer, but left the painting and the edges started to lift. Tim

[Stuart Noble]

There's an in between stage where it's easy to sculpt the filler and clean the tools. You should only need to bend the spreader for it to fall off. That stage lasts all of a minute :-)