What Rot
Dear Suzy,
Do products like “Cure Rot” really work? We have several “soft spots” in boards in our upstairs hallway. We are thinking of putting a new “floating” wood floor right over the old floor, but thought we’d better do something about those soft spots first. Can we use one of the wood “repair” products? Or do we actually need to pull up the whole plank and replace it? And just how complicated is it to use the wood epoxy products?
Kelly
Owner of the “The 500-Pound Canary” — the big yellow house that eats anything it wants to…
Dear Kelly,
If “Cure Rot” can strengthen soft spots, I’d like to soak the lower half of my body and most of my brain in it. My dear hubby, Richard, who has few soft spots but a large bald spot to make up for it, walks into my office and reads your question over my shoulder. He doesn’t think you need to bother with repairing the wood you’ll be glossing over with a new floor. But he does caution you to make sure you seal the rotted areas well with polyurethane or resin so that the new wood doesn’t catch the rot. Then he just walks out of the room. It’s not his house and his name’s not on this column.
Ever sensible and determined to ferret out causes before prescribing cures, I pose these questions: Why is or was the old wood rotting? Water damage?
Termites? Battery acid? Wood-destroying fungi? First, you want to make sure the rot has stopped. And you want to make really sure this rot hasn’t effected your house’s structural bones, things like second-story floor joists that keep the toilet in the upstairs bath from falling on your head at the breakfast table.
You aren’t going to like what I say next, but the truth isn’t always pleasant: You need to tear up some of that soft wood flooring, especially if it covers a large area, so you can take a peak at the joists underneath.
Poke around with a screw driver or one of those Star Trek steak knives your Cousin Moe gave you for a wedding present. If you can shove the knife in to the hilt, carefully nail the old boards back in place and stick a “For Sale” sign in front of that big old Canary house. If your beams feel solid, pop the boards back in place, dig out the soft spots, and pour in some wood epoxy.
Jeff Derebery, owner of Next Generation Restoration, says the epoxy is pretty easy to use, although “it sets up real quick.” He likes it and uses it in historic renovations because “it lasts virtually forever” and you can carve, sand, or drill it like you would wood. Derebery has a great money-saving tip as well; don’t buy the wood epoxy products packaged and marketed for home improvement. Instead, head to the auto shop and get some Bondor for one-tenth the price. He swears it’s the same stuff.
No matter what you spend, you can’t use the stuff without first getting rid of all the rotten wood first. If this is impossible, Derebery says there’s a liquid epoxy — Minwax makes one — that you can use which will permeate the rotten wood and “seal it off” before you start slapping on the paste epoxy.
An epoxy on you if you don’t send your questions to: Suzebe@aol.com or PO Box 49066, Austin, TX 78765.
This article appears in May 9 • 1997 and May 9 • 1997 (Cover).