Abatron LiquidWood

[Mike Stelts]

While at IBS, I noticed LiquidWood. I'm cutting out and replacing rotted wood in 1850s windows; but, it doesn't make sense to rip out everything. I wonder if Liquid Wood is a good way to stabilize the wood next to my repairs. Any experience?

[Tom M King]

Sash, jamb, or sill? Yes, I have experience.

One thing I can tell you about epoxy is that I have stopped using in on the South, or hot West sides of old houses. It will break down in a couple of decades, if not before. I've started replacing sills with cast in place concrete.

[William Hodge]

Epoxy repair was big news in building preservation in the 1990's.

From what I have seen, the wood rots right where the epoxy stops. After a while, the epoxy becomes separate from the wood in a lot of places. On the plus side, the plastic epoxy seems to hold paint pretty well. An epoxy coated sill will look OK from the street. If you ever need to hide stuff, epoxy coated sills are often hollow after a while.

[Rob Sack]

I think you need to kill the fungus that caused the rot in the first place. Just digging out the rotted wood may not remove all the fungus that caused the problem. There are systems that provide the necessary products to first kill the fungus and then replace the rotted material with whatever they use to replace the rotted wood. It probably is some form of epoxy. I would research these complete systems before just digging out the rot and replacing it with epoxy.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

I used both LiquidWood and WoodEpox to repair a couple small rotted areas on a covered porch. Everything was solid when I sold the house ten years later. LiquidWood consistency is like honey, brush it on, let it absorb then keep applying more for deep penetration. A little goes a long way.

I know it used to be used a lot in historical restorations, no idea if it is still used. Maybe contact Abatron.

[Mike Stelts]

Thanks for the testimonial, Lloyd. A couple of my rebuilds have been where there was wood rot where an epoxy repair stopped, as William mentioned. Maybe LiquidWood stopped the rot in your case.

I won't be digging out wood to replace with epoxy. I was planning to use LiquidWood to stiffen up wood that isn't structural and invisible from view, maybe preventing further decay (if my waterproofing is inadequate). Hopefully, the treated wood will also hold fasteners from the new wood covering it.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

Thanks for the testimonial, Lloyd. A couple of my rebuilds have been where there was wood rot where an epoxy repair stopped, as William mentioned. Maybe LiquidWood stopped the rot in your case.

I won't be digging out wood to replace with epoxy. I was planning to use LiquidWood to stiffen up wood that isn't structural and invisible from view, maybe preventing further decay (if my waterproofing is inadequate). Hopefully, the treated wood will also hold fasteners from the new wood covering it.

I used the WoodEpox to fill in gaps at the ends of the flooring that extended over both sets of stairs. After 50-60 years there were some pretty big gaps where the boards join and were exposed to the weather. Primed those areas with LiquidWood and molded in the WoodEpox. No failures.

You can also mix LiquidWood with sawdust to make a filler if necessary.

[Rick Potter]

About 25 years ago, on a rental house my Dad had, a pit bull ate large chunks of the window sill on one window. Dad asked if I could fix it, which I did using Bondo. I now own that rental, and the window is fine.

Not caused by rot, but thought I would mention it for general repairs.