Hi all - builders have finishing contructing a new room at the top of the house and now its down to me the decorate. They have screwed all the skirting boards on and deeply countersunk the screws. Any suggestions as to what's best to fill the holes prior to painting. I've never found wood filler that easy to get a really good finish with and ideally I want something that'll be resistant to shrinking and cracking.
All suggestions gratefully received.
TIA
Peter
Use a cement-based powder filler that you mix with water. It will not shink and will be sandable with a block to level with the rest of the skirting. I had the same thing on a door casing. I used premixed stuff and it all shrunk. Simon.
Putty best and cheapest.
Car body type filler - 2 part. Does well outside & is very easy to sand
Malcolm
And if the carpenters used steel screws, in time you will have rusty patches caused by the water in the mix,
Putty best due to its oil content but first put a dab of paint in the countersink and leave to dry. Oil content of putty will not then soak into the timber.
Seconded, very easy to use & finish.
Get a hole and plug set. This cuts a smooth hole in the skirting - you'll need to remove the screws one by one - and you cut a plug from similar wood which you glue in place. Really normally only used for hardwood left natural, but it will work fine for your job too - if you have the time.
Otherwise, I'd use car body filler - but it's likely to show through the paint slightly as it will have no grain.
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:06:33 +0100, peterd wrote (in article ):
Don't use a filler. It doesn't matter how good it is, you will never get and maintain a decent finish. It's a bodge at best.
A much better solution is to use a bore and plug arrangement.
You can get sets of the cutters (e.g. Screwfix 35920) for boring the holes with the correct straight sides. You then need a scrap piece of the skirting board to make the plugs using the plug cutter. The cutter cuts the sides and then they can be popped out with a screwdriver etc. They are then glued in place, making sure that the grain aligns. Finally the tops can be trimmed off and the whole thing sanded.
Nah. Putty. Do the whole room in a minute. Perfect finish easily obtained. Lasts hundrerds of years. Cheap. Yes you can prime the screwheads if you really want to but I'd put the putty in straightaway while the paint is wet.
Thanks for all the advice. Think I'll try putty first (as I've got some) and if I'm not happy with the finish then car filler.
Cheers
Peter
On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:29:58 +0100, normanwisdom wrote (in article ):
Bodge.....
And then wait days until it dries...
Plastic wood is as good as it gets.
But do it in two stages.
Otherwise it will shrink.
You can also nail in wood plugs and sand them flush.
In any case, to get a good finish, sand the lot, apply knotting to any knots, and plastic wood or polyfilla to any cracks..decoators caulk is useful to fill any gaps in the sort of 3-6mm range.
Then use a good quality wood primer - I use matt white Acrylic, and sand again, then, if the surface isn't as smooth as you would like repeat that.
Its up to you whether to use undercoat or not - with matt white primer a white gloss topcoat goes on fine, but for colour I do try to use an undercoat. Always flat off every coat up to the final with wet and dry paper used wet.
Cheap softwood painted costs far more in labour than the materials savings as against solid hardwood varnished, to make a decent finish...I hate the stuff.
Yebbut - only a day or two. Will have saved about a day compared to wooden plugs etc. Can either have a day off whilst waiting for it to dry - or find something else useful to do! Surely the whole project doesn't depend on filling these screw holes alone. Not a bodge - just traditional and effective.
cheers Jacob
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