Patching Rotted Water Damaged Wood

In this video I cut out some rotted wood on my porch railings and patch it in with new pressure treated wood and finish it off with some Bondo, primer and paint.

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Videos produced by The Fixer are provided for informational purposes only. All material provided within this video is for informational, educational, & entertainment purposes only. Some of these projects, materials, and techniques may not be appropriate for all ages or skill levels. Please use all safety precautions while following any instructions or concepts provided by this video. Viewers must be aware that by doing projects on their homes they are doing it at their own risk and The Fixer cannot be held liable if they cause any damage to their homes. It is the sole responsibility of the viewer to educate themselves on their local codes and regulations before undertaking any sort of project. Always have safety in mind and have fun!

[belleange]

Absolutely perfect timing. I need to repair water damaged wood at the bottom of my garage side door. I don't have any 'big boy' machines but I will get it done. I do have that hand saw your using and the drill and sander. I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL. Bear in mind. I am a woman age 76. I can not afford to pay someone to do repairs for me but YOU show me how. Thank you and your handyman skills look awesome.

[donnabyrd]

Should have primed and painted top and bottom of filler pieces to keep moisture out

[joethomas]

When I work on problem areas (water damage) I usually paint the ends of the wood so it doesn't tend to wick the water in the future. You can also use exterior wood glue for this.

[retireearly]

Excellent repair. One suggestion - whenever bonding new concrete to old concrete, wet the old concrete first. It helps the new repair fuse to the old concrete.

[badad]

13:50 Car guy here: Knead hardener tube before opening to re-mix contents (like ketchup, it separates in storage). A corner to corner bead of hardener across the pile of bondo is thought to be a good ratio. Cheers!

[pawkie]

Paint the endgrain cos thats where rot starts. Looks awesome.

[Vieweratlarge]

I am a homeowner who is going to have to find a way to do many of my own smallish repairs such as this one. Thank you so much for the good tutorial and advice on how to repair rotted wood and the use of Bondo.

[mst]

End grain, end grain, end grain. The end grain of wood is a bundle of “straws” (tubules) that literally wick water UP the grain of wood via capillary action. So, your wood rotted from water on the porch being chronically wicked up the vertical board until the last few inches were so constantly soaked that the end grain of the horizontal board began wicking out of the vertical board. The boards did not rot from snow sitting on top of them as your entire horizontal board would have been equally rotted. Always seal end grain that will be in direct contact with another surface. Using PT lumber will buy you a few years but will eventually rot as well had you not put gutters on your house. Seal end grains (even PT lumber) & put gutters on your house, or get used to repairing rot routinely. Nice repair job. Thank you for taking the time to share & teach others. Stay blessed.

[TexianPa]

Came out great. I always try to make my temporary repairs look just as clean and professional as my permanent repairs, because you never know how long “temporary” may be.

[jimmyrogers]

I would have cut the vertical wood short of the concrete. It is not holding any weight on the bottom and it is always a bad plan to attach wood directly it contact with concrete. At least that is what I have always been taught.

[ryane]

Critical flaw, you never end primed the new boards.

[majahanson]

My favorite part starts at 19:21 where you're toe screwing the old to the new, and starting with an offset. It's so satisfying when it comes in for a perfect landing with everything lined up

[BrentAyotte]

Definitely love the white against the house and how bondo worked so well. One of the best parts about your channel is how you patch now to prevent something getting worse and have a plan to replace later. Most DIY home owners with little to no experience (like me) need this content to help with repair ideas to prevent a big problem later. Can’t thank you enough and I’m so happy I came across your channel.

[britishbulldog]

As a journeyman carpenter I have always tried to isolate wood from concrete. As many others have commented end grain and concrete are just not a great mix, unless you are trying to make compost. When a wood framed house is built on a concrete or block foundation, the wooden base plates are isolated from the concrete for this very reason. Concrete+Wood=Rot, even if there is very little moisture and it feels dry. This goes for fence posts as well.

[JLittleBass]

Great video! But you missed a step :) You should have put some kind of water sealant on the cut surfaces of the PT 2x4 (and then let it dry for 24 hrs) before installing it. Pressure treatment is only surface-level, it doesn't penetrate all the way through the wood, so that nicely angled surface of the wood that's in contact with the waterproof cement is just as vulnerable to rotting again as the wood that was there when you started. So, unfortunately, you're going to have to do this again in a few years!

Also, whenever you plan on working with wood filler, you want to have a can of denatured alcohol on hand (which you can find in the paint aisle). It's helpful in application because if you get some onto your putty knife and then smear the wood filler you've applied, before it dries, it will make the surface runny, which is good because it will give you a much smoother surface when it dries, which will save you a lot of sanding work and also make it smoother than you probably ever could with sanding. Also, you can use the denatured alcohol to clean your putty knife and your gloves and whatever else you might accidentally get wood filler on.

[barrysrandomness]

I watched this not because I have a similar issue, but because it was in my suggested videos and I knew it would teach me many things that I've not yet tackled in my DIY adventures. I wasn't mistaken! This was an excellent resource in so many ways. I'm off to buy a demolition saw and Bondo tomorrow.

[Magdalena-vyli]

That is not a temporary job, that is beautifully done. Just amazing work. Thank you for sharing.

[rossl]

using bodyfiller/bondo for that job is a bad idea as its not waterproof, it will soak up any water or moisture and make the timber rot away faster. You would be fine to use the fibreglass version as the resin in that is waterproof. i know you painted it but the back side is still open to the air and this is where a first coat of fibreglass would have been a benefit to seal it up.

a two part wood filler is the same as bodyfiller/Bondo.

[jimkoko]

While your Bondo is green (firm but not hard) use a Sure-form tool to shape and remove the majority of the Bondo

[GreenDragonPainting]

You may already have one but. A painters "pull scraper" with the carbide blade, works amazingly well shaving bondo. If you shave it just before it gets hard you will save time on your sanding. I own a small painting business and have become somewhat of a bondo expert 😂 I have noticed bondo is really to hard for exterior wood repairs. The wood moves but the bondo doesn't. I explain it to customers as a band aid. That's basically what it is.