Ronseal Exterior Ready-Mixed Wall Filler

[harryagain]

Was there frost? Frost buggers up a lot of these sort of things.

[Jeff Layman]

Anybody here used it?

I don't know if I had a dodgy tub of it or was using it incorrectly, but it has no strength at all. I had a 50 cm crack in some Tyrolean render, about 2 or 3 mm wide and 5 mm deep. I thought I'd give the Ronseal filler a go, forcing it into the crack and leaving it with rough peaks 1

- 4 mm high to give it the appearance of the render. It seemed to dry ok, and a couple of days later I tried to paint it using the same colour masonry paint as the rest of the render. Dabbing the paintbrush to get the paint into all\ the crevices caused a lot of the Ronseal peaks to break off. Mess everywhere.

Ronseal claim it can be drilled. There's no way this stuff can - it is very weak.

[fred]

In article , Jeff Layman writes

Whatever the claims, I can't see how any ready mixed product that simply sets by drying out can achieve a free-standing or drillable strength. For that I think you need chemical action either by dry mix with water (polyfilla or mortar) or 2 part combination such as polyester or epoxy fillers. Anything else I would expect to be purely cosmetic (excepting sealant/adhesive products which I see as being from a different group).

Having written that however I recall that Tetrion seemed to manage this task quite effectively but I remain a sceptic.

[JimK]

Was it too cold for it to go off properly?

Jim K

[Martin Brown]

I suspect it has a minimum cure temperature and it is too cold.

I'd still prefer something along the lines of traditional lime mortar mix for a moving? crack (and the slaked lime is supplied wet in tubs). Quicklime these days is a bit too dangerous...

[stuart noble]

There's a load of these ready mixed lightweight fillers in tubs, usually based on microspheres. They need very little water to make them workable, so they dry quickly and don't shrink. However, IME they stay as soft as sh*t, and would be pretty much useless as an external filler.

IIRC TMH uses one such (One Shot?) and I can see how that might be useful for paint jobs, but no way would it hold a fixing

[Jeff Layman]

I don't know. I did the job early Tuesday afternoon. It was around 9 deg C, and a bit overcast. There was a very short shower about 15 minutes after I finished, but not in the direction of the wall it was on, which is south facing. I checked, and there were no grey runs or drips. I think there was a frost that night.

But according to Ronseal it dries in 1 - 2 hours, so it should have hardened by then.

[polygonum]

Very, very useful for unstressed gaps, but useless to hold anything at all.

[JimK]

/But according to Ronseal it dries in 1 - 2 hours, so it should have hardened by then./q

From your own link it says "touch dry in 1-2 hours" .........

Jim K

[meow2222]

I'd probably use sand & cement 3:1. Bear in mind it will have no strength whatever until days of curing, and it needs damp to cure. Epoxy mortar would be better but presumably unnecessary.

NT

[Jeff Layman]

LoL!

I didn't check the Screwfix link I gave, and the tub was in the garage. What I did quote was Ronseal's own info: "Dry in 1 - 2 hours"!

Ronseal helpfully add "NEED MORE INFO? Look on the back of the tin".

I just looked on the tub. What is says is "Surface is dry in 1 - 2 hours". There is a note to "Drying time is approximately 1 - 2 hours depending on size and depth of hole. Cold and damp conditions may extend dry time".

I'd given it at least 48 hours to dry. Maybe if exposed to frost before it dries completely that will damage it, and it will never set hard. But I reckon a 2-part epoxy mix would be better.

[stuart noble]

Or Toolstation's Profil 2 part polyester. A bit gloopy for my liking but certainly sets rock hard