How To Repair Rotted Wood Beams
Abode > Homes- Outdoor Rot
General Protection
If our Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™ were inexpensive enough and the techniques elementary enough, every piece of wood that goes into a house could benefit by being saturated with the CPES™. That is, in fact, what is done on some new wood boats: all new forest and all exposed wood is painted or injected with CPES™. It partially waterproofs the wood, sets up a barrier that discourages the influx of rot fungi (if they're not already in the wood), and discourages insect penetration, which sometimes leads to rot problems. But a boat is pocket-sized, the wood all peak grade - and we're ownership wholesale!
CPES™ makes an excellent forest primer for any type of paint. On adept wood information technology spreads a long mode, and normal primers tin exist eliminated, and so the expense is not outrageous.
There are areas in and around the business firm that are especially discipline to rotting, and these can exist treated with CPES™, or a combination of CPES™ and a disodium octaborate tetrahydrate solution application. Nosotros recommend that the powder dissolved in h2o method be used, since information technology interferes less with CPES™ penetration than does the disodium in glycol. First, utilise the disodium solution, let the woods dry, and then the CPES™ to seal it in. This combination will give y'all an about impenetrable barrier against wood decomposition, especially if particular attention is paid to terminate-grain sections.
Certain areas are obvious: windowsills, forest gutters and surrounding wood, post and column bases, woods framing, and nosotros'll get to some of those in the repair section. At that place are others that you often don't recall about that if saturated with the CPES™ could salve you fourth dimension and money downward the road. Plywood is used frequently in home repairs and additions. Click hither to see the results of our testing on plywood panels.
Siding and Siding Frame Joints
If these areas are brushed heavily with CPES™ before puttying or caulking the wood will be doubly protected. The CPES™ will absorb readily into the end-grain and penetrate farther than y'all might think into siding boards and frames. Requite it a couple of days to cure and then come back with final sealing. The CPES™ makes a superior base for all sealants.
All building corners can be besides saturated with the CPES™. This is where the water normally gets in and the bad woods bug showtime. Seal the wood earlier you lot pigment and and then don't call back about it again.
Siding or siding frames that are weathered, splintered, or are soft and punky tin be restored by generous application of CPES™ to the surface. CPES™ volition exist absorbed by the wood readily and when fully cured (ii–5 days) will harden the surface and provide and excellent prime blanket for pigment. Paint should exist removed earlier the application of the CPES™, and the forest should be reasonably dry. Afterwards the CPES™ has been practical, any holes or cracks tin can be filled with Make full-It™ Epoxy Filler.
Coverage for CPES™ on new woods will be approximately 250 sq. ft. per gallon. On old, weathered or soft wood the coverage volition depend entirely on the absorbency of the wood, and usually varies between 100 and 175 sq. ft. per gallon.
Gutters
For those of you who yet have wooden gutters, it is possible to rot-protect them. Make clean them out inside, make sure they're reasonably dry out, remove any loose rotten wood, and then soak at least twice with the Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™. Make certain it seeps into all cracks and joints. Go on applying it until it pools and the wood will have no more. Allow it cure so paint with a polyurethane-based finish. The polyurethane will bond with the CPES™ for very tight adhesion, and the pigment will protect the epoxy from the UV deposition that all epoxies are field of study to.
(A) Outside
(B) Deterioration on underside of glu-lam.
(C) Indoors showing glu-lam deterioration.
(D) The offset of deterioration on the rafter beam.
Eaves and Roof Overhangs
Associated with gutters are roof overhangs and eaves. These are not so easily repaired with epoxy woods consolidants, mainly because you're working against gravity for CPES™ application. For light rot the CPES™ tin can be applied from underneath; it volition "wick-upwardly" into the rotted area for several inches in dry woods. Otherwise, you lot're faced with removing roof edging and repairing information technology from above. If y'all have to go this far, then you are near the point of just replacing the eaves. Roof beams, all the same, can be repaired very effectively from to a higher place, since replacing the whole beam would exist a major project. For bad rot, become through our entire CPES™/Resin/Filler sequence. If necessary, yous can also sis the roof beam.
Here's a cautionary note on what tin can happen if things are not done in the proper sequence. (Refer to photos) This home has massive glu-lam beams that become into the house and up to the roof elevation, and with rafter beams that cross to support the roof. Years ago the glu-lam beams began to bear witness some signs of rot and wood deterioration. At the time the thought was that past "protecting" the beams with 1/four″ steel plating information technology would finish the rot problem. The bottom of the wood beams were left exposed.
The steel sheathing only aggravated the rot problem past creating a closed environment that made it more hard for the forest to vent away moisture. The rotting process accelerated. The steel capsule was not a bad idea, but before the steel "sistering" was applied the wood should have been thoroughly stale out then saturated with CPES™. It would take required some access hole drilling near the tops of the beams, equally well every bit coverage by brush or spray from the outside.
Big amounts of CPES™ was purchased and information technology was injected through access holes drilled downwardly from removed bolts, and is was applied generously to all rafters through surface application and drilled admission holes.
Beam and Joist Rot
Beams and joists, specially those that are exposed to weather, are apt to trap wet, which ofttimes leads to deterioration and rot. This is a common occurrence on the exposed ends of the beams, as you lot tin can see in pictures A, B and C.
Click on photos to encounter larger images.
Repair of this type of damage is relatively simple:
1) Remove any loose wood and permit the axle to become reasonably dry.
2) Saturate the axle end with our CPES™. Let the end grain of the forest to absorb all the CPES that information technology volition. CPES will harden any remaining soft wood and significantly reduce the chances of fungi or leaner returning to infect the wood.
3) Wait for several days (or longer).
4) Fill up the vacant area with our Make full-It™ Epoxy Filler, or with new CPES treated woods bonded in identify with the Fill-It Epoxy Filler. The Make full-Information technology will chemically bond with the CPES treated surface. The beam tin exist repainted one time the Fill-It Epoxy Filler has cured. For those wanting a toned final finish, the Fill-Information technology Epoxy Filler can be colored to nearly whatever shade of dark-brown using our Epoxy Coloring Agent.
This kind of harm to beam ends can be significantly reduced by pre-treating the ends of the beams with the CPES. Allow the end grain of the axle to absorb all the CPES that it will.
Junction points on beams are also prime locations for the development of rot, primarily because moisture becomes trapped within the joint seams. Picture D is a good example of what tin can happen.
Repair for this type of impairment is every bit follows:
ane) Drill some small holes to make up one's mind the extent of the rot within the beam, and/or probe with a piece of stiff wire to decide degree of damage.
ii) Remove any loose wood.
3) Let area to become reasonably dry.
four) Squirt, castor, or spray CPES into the area, making sure that all woods has been saturated.
v) Wait for 3–four days (or longer).
6) Fill with our Make full-It Epoxy Filler. This can be washed sequentially, if required; that is, a gross fill up which is immune to cure, and then followed with a end fill. It will all bond together chemically.
Pictures F, G and H show badly rotted outside deck beams/joists. The rotten wood has been removed exposing big voids. In this case more than 50% of the wood has been removed and then repair will require bonding in pieces of new wood, or using metallic to reinforce the beams. The filling and bonding-in of the reinforcement can be done, after the handling with the CPES, with a mixture of our Layup & Laminating™ Epoxy Resin and sawdust or wood chips. This mixture can be as thin or equally thick as y'all wish. If the beam extends into the building, the reinforcing material will have to exist inserted and epoxy-bonded into the interior axle through augured holes. "Sistering" the beams with new, through-bolted wood is sometimes as well a satisfactory solution. Be certain the new wood is CPES treated for protection against rot, including the drilled bolt holes. If you have questions or concerns about the forcefulness of this type of repair, we strongly urge you to consult with a registered architect or professional engineer.
More frequently, the damage to the beam will not be as severe, equally in picture I, and the repair procedure should be as outlined above: Saturation with the CPES, followed several days (or longer) later with the Layup & Laminating Resin and sawdust, with our without new wood to help make full.
If the deterioration is on the inside of the axle and you wish to preserve the axle confront, then the repair procedure is as follows:
1) Remove all loose wood that is attainable.
2) Using a i/four″ drill bit, drill down-sloping holes into the interior of the desperately deteriorated portions. Drill these holes as shut to the superlative as possible. Gravity will pull the production downward into the wood.
3) Pump or squirt our CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer) into each hole. Some may quickly leak out of holes or cracks in the sides of the beam. This all happens quickly. Brush-coat any deteriorated exterior portion of the beam with the CPES, assuasive the wood to absorb all the CPES information technology will.
The CPES is doing three things: It's inactivating all fungi/bacteria, hardening soft wood, and setting up an epoxy primer base of operations for the subsequent epoxy material. Both the CPES and the resin have a slight bister color, and this will drip down through any exterior cracks or holes. If there are any surfaces underneath that you don't want resin on, comprehend them with a poly tarp before beginning the process.
4) Wait for about a week (or longer).
5) Using our re-usable caulking tubes (10 oz size), pump pure Layup & Laminating Resin into the holes. Generous amounts of the resin should be pumped in, just not to the betoken of fill. Holes where the Layup & Laminating Resin might leak out can exist closed with two″ clear packing tape, or with cardboard covered with plastic kitchen wrap or waxed paper.
six) Wait for a twenty-four hours (or longer).
seven) Repeat the process to a higher place, but this time use the Layup & Laminating Resin mixed with sawdust or woods flour (nosotros sell woods flour if you need information technology) to make a soft slurry, about the consistency of very heavy syrup, and pump that into the aforementioned holes.
viii) Look for a twenty-four hours (or longer).
ix) Mix a heavy mixture of the 50&L Resin/sawdust, about like heavy peanut butter, load the 10 oz caulking tube, and pump that into the holes until they are filled.
10) Mix the L&L Resin/sawdust to a thickness that will "hang" and utilize that to all vacant areas on the log exteriors. This tin be done sequentially; that is, a gross fill followed past a terminate make full. This should exist as smooth as possible considering in one case cured the mix is almost impossible to sand. Or employ an epoxy filler for finishing, as it is easier to sand.
Basically, that's it. A strong repair. The color of the L&50 Resin/sawdust or epoxy filler volition be virtually every bit shown on this link on our website, forth with variations past using our Epoxy Coloring Agent.
We take a customer who sent in their pictures later on repairing their beams with the above method, see the 1850 Beam Renovation for them.
Click on photos to see larger images.
Window Sill and Frame Rot
Window sill and frame rot is a common problem considering h2o leaks in around the paint/caulk and the heat from the lord's day cooks information technology all up into a perfect surround for rot fungi. To the correct we show a picture of mild rot where the moisture has gotten under the caulking (see picture A), and a picture of astringent rot where wet has simply gotten under the paint. (Run across picture B). The rot may also get into the window/door framing. (Run across pictures C and D).
CPES™ (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer) is always the first product applied. It penetrates securely, hardens the woods and virtually rot-proofs the area. After several days you are complimentary to come back with our Fill up-It™ Epoxy Filler and fill all voids. The Fill up-Information technology chemically bonds with the CPES treated wood and produces a structural repair.
The sequence for repair is basically as follows:
1) Remove any loose wood.
2) Brand sure the wood is reasonably dry out. (Come across moving-picture show East). Use a hair dryer for awhile if there is any incertitude. Slightly damp is okay.
three) Scrape off paint around the affected area, or, improve all the same, the whole sill.
4) Apply our CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer) to the sill, assuasive the wood to absorb all the CPES that it will. If rot is into the framing, drill small-scale downward-sloping access holes for the injection of the CPES. (See picture F).
5) Wait for two–3 days (or longer).
6) Return and fill all vacant areas with our Fill up-It Epoxy Filler. This can be smoothed off and will cure difficult in 24 hours. It can exist sanded smoothen subsequently information technology cures. The Fill-It is a permanent make full… information technology won't crack or pop out. (Meet picture G for a gross fill and picture H for a sanded fill up).
If the surface area requires a more fluid fill, our Layup & Laminating Resin tin be used, or a slurry mix of the Layup & Laminating Resin and our sawdust. Either the Fill-Information technology Epoxy Filler or the Layup & Laminating Resin tin be pumped into voids with our Re-Usable Caulking Tubes.
vii) Re-paint the sill, direct over the CPES'd surface. Any blazon of paint will work simply fine.
Deteriorated shutters and doors and door sills tin be repaired using similar techniques. At that place are several window repair projects sent in by unlike customers run across our Customer Projects page to see the different repairs and how they were completed.
Doorway Thresholds
Doorway thresholds are another area that is rot decumbent due to wet and heat. Employ a knife or ice pick to decide the range and depth of the rotten forest. Remove any wood that is totally loose and rotted. At joints utilise a drill to penetrate into hidden areas that may have rot. You can run into what comes out with the drill. Soak it all in CPES™ then go back and make whatever fills using Layup & Laminating Epoxy Resin™ if deep rot and Fill-Information technology™ Epoxy Filler.
Doors and doorway frames tin can be repaired in a similar manner. E'er start at the top so that the CPES™ runs downwards. Paint/stop must be removed from deteriorated area first so the CPES™ can penetrate. Drill if necessary to get depth.
Garage Doors
Many garage doors have a lesser reinforcing panel that collects water which seeps between the panel and the primary door structure. Wood deterioration is frequently the result, especially if the door is on the sunny side of the house. This is a perfect location for using the Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™. The area tin be dried and scraped out, and then CPES™ injected or brushed into the gap. Later on it cures, either Layup & Laminating Resin™ or Fill-It™ Epoxy Filler can be laid in and the whole area re-painted. It'due south easy, quick, and a lot cheaper than replacing the console or the door.
Gates, Fences, Posts and Other Ancillary Pieces
Some of these are difficult to supercede. Information technology'south worth some effort and Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™ applied in advance to resist rot from getting started. Fence post bases, screw holes for hinges, wood joints, gate joints, etc. are all prime candidates for time to come rot. Protect them first.
Fifty-fifty the casual application of CPES™ to finish-grains can resist the kind of debate-peak deterioration seen in the accompanying motion picture.
The photos (bellow) bear witness an example of a Florida deck back up beam (simply the aforementioned holds true for any mail cached in the ground) that was repaired past using CPES™, Layup & Laminating Resin and Fill-It™ Epoxy Filler. Photo "A" shows the extent of the problem after a little of the soil was dug away. Precipitous probes were pushed through the wood to determine the extent and depth of the wood rot. More surrounding soil was cleared abroad and the deteriorated surface area completely exposed, every bit shown in photograph "B" and in close-up in photo "C".
Wood must exist reasonably dry out before CPES™ and subsequent products can exist applied. In this instance the dwelling house possessor rented a kerosene heater/blower and dried the forest thoroughly. He and so saturated the wood with CPES™, later on drilling some CPES™-access holes to a higher place the visibly rotted area to be certain saturation was complete. He then waited iv–5 days for the CPES™ to vent away all carrier solvents, and and then practical Layup & Laminating Resin over the deteriorated surface (especially the bottom) and into the admission holes via a turkey baster. Afterward a 24 hour cure-time, the whole area was then filled with the Fill-It™ Epoxy Filler. This had to be done in several applications to prevent sag-out. The task was completed. The compressive forcefulness of our epoxies is greater than the woods surrounding it.
The material to complete this repair was two quarts of CPES™, 2 pints of Layup & Laminating Resin, and a i gallon unit of Fill up-It™ Epoxy Filler. The cost was $257.68. Compared to the cost of replacing the post this is inexpensive, and the repaired area is stronger than it was originally and free of rot.
Some other customer repaired their Porch Pole which was on concrete and sent u.s. the pictures of their work.
Column Rot
Columns tin can have astringent wood deterioration problems because they are usually hollow. The inside woods is untreated and unprotected, and moisture seeping up from the lesser will chop-chop atomic number 82 to severe woods rot. We have a moving-picture show here of a severely damaged column afterwards the rotten wood has been removed.
Repair is as follows: Start, treat the columns with the CPES™ (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™), including all the exposed faces, the immediately surrounding wood (afterward the paint is removed), and the base of operations intersection betwixt column and its back up. Next, using a garden sprayer, the insides of the columns should as well be treated with the CPES™. Treating the insides of the columns is extremely important, because the wood inside is very vulnerable and CPES™ will significantly reduce the chance of any future wood deterioration. During use the sprayer can be cleaned with lacquer thinner, which will affluent the curing epoxy out of the valving.
After the CPES™ cures, the hole needs to be filled with Fill-It™ Epoxy Filler. For big open holes, the easiest way to exercise this is to make a bankroll surface. There are two ways that this can exist done:
The first is to cut a piece of corrugated cardboard 1″ larger than the size of the hole. Bend pieces of wire in one-half around your finger and push both ends through the cardboard about 1 one/two″ from the border of the cardboard in various places. Curve the wire ends outward on the inside. Put Make full-Information technology™ around the interior edge of the hole to secure the paper-thin in place. Bend the cardboard so it can be inserted into the hole. Using the wires as handles, pull the cardboard outward. Bend the wire effectually the outside of the pigsty to hold the cardboard in identify while the interior border of Make full-It™ cures. Afterwards the interior edge of Fill-Information technology™ has cured, cutting the wires off flush with the cardboard and employ the Fill-It™ to fill in the missing forest. After curing, sand the filler to shape and paint.
The second alternative is to fill the inside of the column with plenty expandable foam (the canned version sold at home stores volition work) to serve as the backing. Backlog foam tin be carved away afterwards it cures. This method of backing should not exist used unless the cavalcade is offset thoroughly sprayed inside with the CPES™. Foam adjacent to untreated wood traps wet and promotes forest rot.
Click paradigm to overstate
Here is a picture of a less severely damaged column. This would be repaired by removing paint from all afflicted surfaces, removing any loose wood, saturating the area with CPES™, and so several days (or longer) after coming back and filling all cracks and vacancies with our Fill-It Epoxy Filler. Ideally, the whole base of this cavalcade would be treated with the CPES to prevent recurrence of the deterioration elsewhere.
When information technology is the detail piece of work that is damaged, that tin can be built back with surprising results. Kickoff treat the surrounding wood with a penetrating epoxy, then build back with your choice of the fillers. Forms can be built if you lot take lots of them to do. You can too make full in a close approximation to the desired shape, and then sand to finished shape and paint.
A customer sent in their pictures of their Creative Column Reconstruction, one time it was done you would not even know it had been repaired.
Decks and Deck Railings
Decking fails near often considering of a fundamental flaw in how they are treated during assembly. Common deck construction places the upper surface planks across and perpendicular to ii″ X 12″ joists set on border. The planks are screwed or nailed to the joists, puncturing both wooden members. Inevitably a thin air space exists between each deck plank and joist. This very thin gap opens upward as the structure moves with changing historic period and atmospheric condition conditions. Rain falls and dew condenses at night, assuasive water to collect in these narrow night spaces. Warmed past the sunday, the spaces get a breeding basis for natural bacteria and fungi. The wood deteriorates and rots.
Yous can supervene upon or you tin repair, if the damage is not too cracking. If the underside of the deck planks prove deterioration upwardly to a third of the plank thickness or less, and the joist the same degree of deterioration, restoration is possible. Sistering new wood next to the damaged joist is advisable. If y'all have questions or concerns, we strongly urge y'all to consult with a registered builder or professional engineer, and the repairs done in full conformance with building codes and existing regulations.
Restoration begins with the disassembly of the height of the deck. Screws are removed, or if nailed the plank tin can unremarkably be broken loose from below with a large hammer or maul. Sometimes a few hits from below to loosen and then a sharp strike on top will make the nail stand proud for pulling. Employ a pencil to number the planks so that they can be replaced in the same order. Identify the planks upside downward and using a wire brush lightly scrub the area where plank and joist met to remove whatsoever loose, deteriorated woods.
Soak the bottom of each plank with Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™. If information technology's important to preserve the weathered appearance of the deck, then plow the plank over inside about 1/2 hr and solvent-clean with Lacquer Thinner to remove any CPES™ that might have soaked through to the tiptop side. If this isn't done before the epoxy cures, in that location will exist visible patches of epoxy on height. Allow deck planks to dry at least 48 hours with bottom side up. Now echo this aforementioned process with the joists, allowing for extensive and prolonged absorption at bad wood areas. If CPES™ impregnation is deep, upward to 2 weeks may be required for solvent evaporation and epoxy cure. Generally, when the location no longer smells strongly the restoration process can continue.
Supersede whatsoever volumes of missing wood with Make full-It™ Epoxy Filler. Information technology tin be sanded or shaped with normal woodworking tools.
When the planks are ready for replacement, put into position and drill airplane pilot holes for nails or screws. This is particularly important if yous are going through the Make full-It™ Epoxy Filler. Sister any joists that require it. We recommend a clear grain fir with few if any knots. Coat the sisters with the CPES™, especially the end-grain.
At present, at this signal we recommend using a 100% polyurethane sealant between the sis and the joist. Our Dymonic® FC would exist a good choice. Employ the material to both surfaces, and screw or boom the sis to the joist. When the polyurethane has cured, apply a knife to carve away whatever excess that may accept appeared at the top edge of the original joist.
Supplant the planks in sequence using the same method as above, including drilling the pilot holes. Apply the two-function polysulfide to the articulation and bulldoze the nails or insert screws through the uncured mixture. This is a method used on boats and the life of the repair usually exceeds the life of the deck.
Your deck is repaired! We had a client who did this on their deck, the project is very well documented and thorough check information technology out… Half-Round Deck.
For new construction, or you're re-edifice a deck the awarding of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™ to crucial areas such as plank/joist junctures tin can save you a lot of work after. These are the critical areas where nails puncture the wood, gaps exist where water seeps in, the lord's day warms, and eventually the wood is liable to deteriorate. Most rot starts where water can wick in. CPES™ applied to these areas in advance tin can resist bug. Consult with your architect or construction engineer. Simply a couple of hundred dollars in extra materials tin can salve you much more downwardly the route.
Deck railings, more than oft than not can be easily and more than cheaply replaced than repaired. As e'er, if putting in new wood, keep in mind that sealing the forest from moisture helps information technology to last much longer and the clear penetrating epoxy sealer goes a long way every bit a primer/sealer. When the deck railings are decorative or as in our customers Half-Circular Deck a lot more work went into making the railing and it's cheaper or less labor intensive than to re-build it.
UV Low-cal Damage To Wood
Click on photos to encounter a larger view.
Wood tin be deteriorated by ultraviolet (UV) calorie-free. This trouble is well-nigh common in the southwestern states where wood beams and siding on buildings are exposed to long periods of intense sunlight.
Wood deterioration acquired by UV light is different in type and appearance from deterioration caused past rot fungi. It is more diffuse and generalized over the wood surface. The softer summer growth is more than susceptible to UV damage, leading to greater erosion in these areas of the woods. Axle ends tin can be particularly vulnerable.
The pictures nosotros evidence here are from a Southern California habitation. Yous can come across the severe etching of the wood, and the pitted ends. The dark sealer coat is breaking downwards nether the UV light and exposing bare wood.
Effective restoration of UV damaged forest requires saturation of the wood surfaces with CPES™ (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer). The UV damaged wood is much weaker than the undamaged forest, and must be restrengthened if a lasting repair is to be accomplished. The woods should exist allowed to absorb all the CPES™ that it will, and this can be a considerable amount on this type of deterioration. The CPES™ volition serve to fill and bail in the tiny spaces that exist between the wood fibers, restoring force. If protected from additional UV lite, the treatment with CPES™ is permanent. Once in the wood it will not come up out.
Protection of the CPES™ treated wood surface requires a blanket that is very resistant to UV light. Epoxies are not fabricated to exist UV resistant, they must be coated in lodge to protect them.
The just clear coatings that can supply this high level of protection are marine-grade varnishes. It's certainly possible to varnish beams and siding, but at least 3 coatings will be required and information technology will have to be recoated annually. Non much fun!
Opaque coatings, such as paint and polyurethanes, are more than practical. Good paint will withstand the UV light for several years, and then have to exist repainted. An option to painting is sealing the surface with our Elasta-Tuff™ 6000-AL-HS, a very tough polyurethane coating that is totally UV resistant and will concluding 10–fifteen years without recoating or losing color. At least 2 coats are required. You can go additional details on the Elasta-Tuff™ product information page
Termite and Boring Insect Damage
While termites are the home possessor's chief concern, in that location are a variety of insects that can and do penetrate wood. Other insects such every bit a diverseness of ants, beetles and bees oftentimes just use the wood for habitation and convenance infinite. Their impairment is non so extensive, but does provide an access for water to become into the wood. It's not uncommon to come across extensive fungal rot in areas where insects have penetrated.
Termite and boring insect tunneling is often on main frames or sill timbers, and in due course will cause major structural impairment. About frequently the damage is in inaccessible areas. Replacing the timber is not always an selection, and even if it is, replacement can be expensive. What needs to exist done is to restore structural strength to the timber, and to seal the wood so that bacteria and fungi (and insects) won't have access to the interior.
Click on pictures to enlarge.
If the surface is painted, in that location will be no evidence of the repair. Whatsoever testing done by home inspectors volition reveal only an extremely hard surface, much like the good woods surrounding the repair. On unpainted surfaces, finish putty tin can be made by adding sawdust to a mix of the L&Fifty Resin until a spreadable consistency is reached. Finish off smoothly. Once cured this mix is very difficult to sand shine. The Fifty& L Resin and sawdust requite a toned fill that approximates the color of the original wood. Or the utilize of an epoxy filler, which is easier to sand, toned with our Epoxy Coloring Amanuensis can be used to finish off the fill up.
Epoxy handling volition provide an accommodating solution. For starters, no insect tin can survive immersion in epoxy! The most of import indicate to this solution is that epoxies are by far the best manner to restore strength to damaged wood. They are extremely strong, bond easily and strongly with the wood, and accept an indefinite life. Only you have to use the right epoxies…
The damaged area must first be treated with a penetrating epoxy, to harden the forest and encapsulate whatever bacteria or fungi, and then either a flowable thick epoxy added to penetrate the insect tunnels or, if admission is clear, an epoxy filler applied to build dorsum bulk and bond with the CPES™ treated wood. The flow-able epoxy must be extremely ho-hum-setting to allow fourth dimension for it to drift to all open up areas. Our Layup & Laminating™ Resin is the slowest-setting epoxy nosotros know of.
The photos show a badly damaged piece of wood (two pieces, actually, just both from the aforementioned timber and both damaged) that were deteriorated by both termites and fungal rot. PHOTO A shows the slice afterwards it has been flooded with CPES™ and and so Layup & Laminating™ Resin. When the CPES™ was applied the termites rushed out and were encapsulated.
Photograph B shows a cut section after it had been treated with CPES™, only before it was flooded with Layup & Laminating™ Resin. You tin meet that the termite tunnels are darkened by the penetrated CPES™, just that the good wood remains unaffected. CPES™ simply deeply penetrates deteriorated woods. The nighttime dark-brown material is rotted wood and termite residual that has been penetrated and turned hard by the CPES™.
Photo C shows a cut department later on the termite tunnels were flooded with Layup & Laminating™ Resin. They are now solid resin, bonded to the CPES™, which is in plough bonded to the wood. This wood is strong. Y'all could drive a spike with it.
Repairing Insect Damage
The repair process is fairly uncomplicated:
i) Dry the wood if it is clammy.
two) Flood it with CPES™, through open tunnels, or through drilled access holes, assuasive the wood to blot as much as it volition. If done in an enclosed space, nosotros strongly recommend the apply of a cartridge respirator, such as the Moldex unit of measurement we sell. Allow the CPES™ to cure.
3) Wrap any open areas with kitchen wrap (Saran Wrap) to proceed the 50&L Resin from escaping, and so flood the tunnels with the resin. This may take awhile, because equally the resin settles into place you will have to go back and add more than. If the voids are large, you can finish the menses with a pourable slurry of 50&50 Resin and sawdust. Remove the kitchen wrap subsequently 24 hours and you are through.
An Epoxy Filler tin be used to enclose big open areas. It will bond strongly with the penetrating epoxy or epoxy resin treated surface.
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