Rotted wood repair that works

[jeff york]

I recently began doing some much needed winterizing and noticed I had some wood that had rotted. This seems to be a common item I see people mention on their motor homes and seems to be somewhat common on the class C motor homes where water penetrates via a cab over window and gets into the wood frame structure. 

Since I had seen this issue previously and did some repairs, I wanted to look back at the repairs I did about 5 or 6 years ago and see how those areas held up. As it turned out, the areas I had previously repaired, still looked great and the wood structure was solid and firm. 

The process I used before, I will use again using the same product. If its held up in previous repairs, I feel confident it will hold up on current repairs. 

The product I used is called PC- Petrifier, Wood Hardener. 

I can not find it at any of the local big box stores. You can find it at hardwarestorecloseouts.com

The direct link to the page is at:

http://www.hardwarestorecloseouts.com/pc-petrifier-hardnr-16oz.html...

It comes it two sizes a smaller bottle and a large bottle for $ 12.99. You can get a 20% discount to use online.  I have used it before but this time I was using it on my Coleman pop up camper. The coupon code is FB20 for a 20% discount. 

Its very simple to use and once the product completely dries, the wood is solid and can be sanded, drilled and painted.

Its important that you get the wood completely dry before you apply the product. Simply scrape off any paint and allow the wood to dry. I used a heat gun to speed up the drying process. Then simply brush PC Petrifier wood hardener on liberally to the surface of the wood. Allow it to dry overnight and then you can prime it a paint it. 

In my case I had severe damage and I chose to fill in the damaged area with an epoxy based filler. PC also makes a Wood epoxy filler. I have used glass impregnated bondo too. With the wood hardened, you have a good surface which the epoxy filler can bond to.

The epoxy filler has a set up time of 5 to 10 minutes to you have to work fast. The good thing is this makes it ready to sand and paint in minutes.

Once I sanded the epoxy filler with a 60 grit sandpaper, I then sanded it with 100 and then 220. I then primed the surface and calked any seams. Thats it. Now I have a strong wood surface that will last years.

I hope this helps someone and if you have any questions, feel free to ask

Jeff York

1977 Airstream Argosy 28 motor coach

http://www.hardwarestorecloseouts.com 

[Jim Allaire]

Jeff,  What Rich Thomas said.   I've messed around with wooden boats for the last 30 years. Some boat folks, after getting all the rotted wood out, brush on polyethylene-glycol.  It will work as an anti-fungal agent.  Usually people use anti-freeze.  The theory is that it's worth making sure that every last fungal (rot) spore is dead before covering things up with epoxy.  I know from personal experience that epoxy will set up fine after the PEG dries.  

I used a product called "Git Rot" a long time ago (it's still available) and decided it wasn't much different than epoxy cut 50/50 with acetone.  A friend uses a 30% epoxy 70% Acetone mix for his first coat. We both then add coats of less and less diluted epoxy.  Either way, the diluted epoxy soaks deep into the wood AND it does set up.  Someone more knowledgeable than I am can explain that.  My working assumption is that the acetone is so volatile that it evaporates leaving the epoxy to set up. 

[Rich Thomas]

There used to be a product called Rot Stop for repairing wooden boats that worked the same way; the more rotten the wood the better it worked. I tried to find some when I found rot from water intrusion on my house flooring under a door I replaced and couldn't. Glad to see that you have a resource for a similar product. Thanks for sharing. 

[Lakota Wolf]

Great info, thanx for sharing.