Wood caulk: The essential wood restorer

Working with wood can produce the most aesthetically pleasing results. Wood caulk as a sealant helps you keep those results looking great, even as they begin to wear down and crack with age.

Wood caulk: What is it for?

Wood is a material prone to cracking and breaking as it ages, no matter how well you’ve finished and protected it. This is when wood caulk becomes your best ally. With a good wood caulking sealant, you can fix these breaks or fill in the gaps to restore your wooden objects back to their original condition.

Wood caulk as a sealant: How to use it

Using wood caulk as a sealant in around a wooden door or window frame? Here’s how to proceed.

1. Clean. For an optimal seal, ensure the area you are working with is clean and clear of any foreign objects, such as dust or debris.
2. Prepare. For the best, safest results, ensure the area you are working in well-ventilated, and use gloves while applying the wood caulk.
3. Prime. Almost all wood caulk products come with an applicator nozzle, which you attach to the main tube after removing the cap and inner seal. Establish the bead size you wish to apply and cut the top of the nozzle to match that measurement.
4. Apply. Load your wood caulk product into a caulk gun and squeeze the trigger gently to apply a consistent bead into to joint or gap you are working with.
5. Profile. Before the bead has dried, use a smoothing tool like the UniBond Sealant Finishing Tool to smooth it over and force it into the joint or gap to form the best seal possible. This will also remove any excess wood caulk, which can be scraped off in stages while smoothing the bead over.
6. Dry. Once the bead is smooth and in place in the joint or gap, leave to dry as per instructions on the wood caulk product.

Wood caulk as an adhesive: How to use it

Here’s how to apply wood caulk as an adhesive.

1. Sand. Use fine sandpaper to lightly roughen the wooden surfaces you are working with and achieve the strongest bond possible. Clean and brush away any dust that this produces.
2. Apply. Load your wood caulk product into a caulk gun and squeeze the trigger gently to apply a consistent bead to one of the surfaces you are bonding.
3. Dry. Press that surface against the other and hold until an initial bond is formed. If the products instructions indicate a longer cure time, use a clamp or tape to secure the two surfaces together while you wait for it to dry.

Selecting the right wood caulk

Before you choose your wood caulk, you need to consider what scenario you are using it for. If you need to fill in gaps around a window or door frame inside your home, a product like UniBond Paintable Sealant would be best. As the name suggests, this is a paintable caulk for wood, so you can redecorate it to match the room’s colour.

If you want to seal gaps around a window or door frame outside your home, UniBond Window & Door Frame Sealant is a weatherproof silicone wood sealer that provides a permanently flexible perimeter seal and offers strong and lasting adhesion to wood.

Should you need wood caulk to use as an adhesive, UniBond Epoxy Repair Wood is a two-part water resistant epoxy adhesive that dries translucent and sets in 5 minutes. It is ideal for strong quick bonding and repairing of almost all soft and hard woods and can be sanded, drilled and painted.