(MCT)—Q: We have a very old home with wood siding. After years of scraping, sanding and painting, the siding has several uneven spots. Is there a technique and/or product we can apply to even out these boards?
A: By uneven, I assume some of the boards are deeply gouged or have chunks of wood that might have been torn away in the scraping process—at least that is the experience I have had with my cedar siding.
If you paint, you have a little more wiggle room than if you stain. What I do is fill the gouges with Elmer’s wood putty, let it cure and shrink and then repeat until the putty is even with the surface of the board. Then I sand, prime (sometimes two coats, lightly sanding in between) and then paint with acrylic latex paint.
I have used a two-part wood epoxy on old columns and fascia boards, but that was more to even out the surface when I was trying to blend new and old wood after rebuilding.
Here’s an interesting thing I found:
In April, I noticed the bottom right side of the frame of the door of my workshop (yes, really, my workshop) had rotted down to the two-by-four. As I tried to remove the trim to get to the frame, a piece of the trim split and ripped away.
I used wood putty to fill in the missing trim, and clamped a couple of thin pieces of wood to hold the repair in place. Then I sanded lightly and repainted. You cannot tell even on looking closely that the trim is not a single piece.
I’m not patting myself on the back, which at my age is a stretch physically. I do believe that with a little patience, all things are possible.
