Door repair on The Cupola building...

[Daniel Meyer]

Some door repair on our 1866 commercial building this weekend...soon I'll start on the windows...with any luck I'll finish by 2066...

http://theoldvictorian.com/2014/03/24/d ... he-square/

[Neighmond]

Such Fun!

[Superbeetle]

2066? I think you're being optimistic!

Good tip about the plastic wrap.

[Daniel Meyer]

2066? I think you're being optimistic!

Heh...I AM an eternal optimist!

But with a couple gallons of paint, some primer, some tape, and I splurged on a new brush...running well over $100...it may take a lot longer!

[Carmify (WavyGlass)]

I just clicked over to your blog. Still laughing about your description of the noise the carbide paint-scraper makes. It really is the most god-awful sound, isn't it? I do pity the neighbors sometimes...

[Daniel Meyer]

I just clicked over to your blog. Still laughing about your description of the noise the carbide paint-scraper makes. It really is the most god-awful sound, isn't it? I do pity the neighbors sometimes...

You'll probably like what I call the paint color I have to use...or not LOL!

Finished pics and such here:
http://theoldvictorian.com/2014/03/31/d ... the-deuce/

Two doors down, and about 24 10' tall windows (with a rounded top), and a couple thousand square feet of stucco repair to go! Weeeee!

[1880 stick (WavyGlass)]

dan...is there a certain bondo you use on wood?
thanks

[Daniel Meyer]

dan...is there a certain bondo you use on wood?
thanks

They make some specific epoxy-based wood fillers, but they are very expensive.

Regular old automotive Bondo works fine...it's epoxy based with plastic filler...and is about $30/gallon. Easy to mix, 10-15 minutes working time as a dough-like mixture...mash it in wherever you need it, sets in another 4-5 minutes, then easy/soft to shape with a file for another 10-15 minutes, then harder but still file-able. Can be painted after an hour or so.

Takes primer/paint wonderfully. Won't absorb water if scratched or unpainted (beyond some .5% or something like that).

The mistake people make with it, or ANY filler, is that rot means you have a moisture problem. You need to solve that before covering it over or you will have more rot later.

In the case of my doors...the rot was water wicking up the end-grains of the vertical wood in the door...as they were touching concrete and there are no sweeps on the doors.

I've corrected the touching concrete part, sweeps are coming, and the bondo is actually a help here as there is no longer any wood in the endgrains to touch the water.

I don't expect I'll every have any issue with the repair.

[Gothichome]

Daniel, I too just had another look at your blog. A little off topic here, but I found your pic and your lament about lady bugs. Gothic home also had a lady bug crisis when we first bought the old girl. No matter how many we sent out the door we seem to have threefold show up, mostly in the spring. Over time the regeneration rate of the little bug(er)s slowed to maybe a dozen or so a week. Mostly in the rooms that we have not restored the windows in. The rooms with the restored windows they never show up any more. I think the key there was the weight pockets were cleaned out during the resto.

[Gothichome]

Oh, keep up the great work.