# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Any "smart" ways of handling Builder's Bog?..

## Batpig

Hey Blokes! 
If you have a look at the photo below, I've got some holes in the Kitchen wall (caused by a leaking Shower Recess on the other side... :Frown: ) that need to be filled with Builder's Bog. Trouble is, they're of a fair size and in a highly visible area. So it's not going to be easy (well, not for me anyway... :Cool: ) to get a nice un-wavy final surface on them. 
The main problem is that the stuff is *awfully* sticky, and doesn't really like to let-go of anything you use to trowel it on with, except for maybe those small plastic spatula-thingies that they give you with the cans. But they're nowhere near as wide as the holes in question that need to be filled. And if you use something wider - like a short piece of aluminium extrusion as a levelling-spreader - the stuff will stick to it quick-smart, and become almost impossible to remove once dry (which happens pretty quickly... :Doh: ) 
So... My questions to your collective neural knowledge-bases are: 
1) Can you buy bigger, wider aftermarket versions of those little plastic scrapers (that they give you with the cans...), that are made out of the same special plastic that seems to more readily "let go" of the Bog - even when it's dry? 
2) Has anyone been able to work out a way of "screeding" the stuff to a virtually level finish, by perhaps hitting it at just the right time with the Scraper, which was perhaps first dipped into a can of Turps beforehand?... :Confused:  
Any more thoughts about handling the stuff would be greatly appreciated. For what it's worth, I'm probably going to use a 50:50 mix of some of the normal stuff that I've got lying around, added to a small new can of the more "flexible" variety that you can buy now.   
By the way, the two little dots that you can see in the middle of each hole are Screws that have been partially driven into small pieces of Ply that I have used as backing-patches to close up the back of each hole in order to enable practical filling with the Bog. You drive the Screws (by only a centimetre or so) into the Ply, and then cut the Ply to the widest size that will fit into the hole. When you can _just_ get the Patch in and out of the hole, you run a bead of Construction Adhesive down the face of the Patch at each end, slip it into the hole, and then pull it forward (with a little bit of wriggling to spread out the glue) against the back face of the VJ boards. The next day, the adhesive should be dry enough to tolerate removal of the Screws. Bog away... 
Many Thanks,
Batpig.

----------


## Master Splinter

A plastic cutting board from your local cheap kitchen supplies place.  Find the greasy-feeling PVC ones, which are a 'low surface energy' plastic, so you have to work hard to make things stick.  You can use it for mixing and for smoothing it out in the hole.  Leftovers generally peel off or flake off when the board is flexed. 
Don't try to use turps as a smoothing aid - all it will do is make it into a yukky sticky mess.  Acetone/enamel thinner is the solvent for it, but it's easier to overfill and smooth off with a surform rasp about 30-45 minutes after initial mixing (set, but still green and soft) 
However...note that builders bog doesn't really stick to timber all that well, so it's good you've added the screws.  If you want to really overdo it, use thickened epoxy instead and it'll be stronger than the rest of the wall!

----------


## rrobor

How about fibreglass. My thoughts were fibreglass left low then finish the top with something like cornice adhesive so you could work the beading lines in.

----------


## an3_bolt

Just at a quick guess the amount of bog you will need and for the best result - it could actually end up cheaper and quicker to replace the timber lining boards as required. 
The builders bog is a type of polyester resin - cleans up best with acetone.  
The alternative bog mentioned is to use epoxy with micro balloons - forms a thick paste. This stuff is good for 1000 km/hr, sandable and non-shrinking. 
Hint for bogs - Use some disposable gloves ($8 for the big pack at Woolies) - keeps hands clean and can just rip them off as they get dirty and put on a new pair. 
By the way - I blew up a science lab plumbing system with acetone.....it is highly flammable stuff. :Eek:

----------


## cherub65

Could also use expanding foam to fill cavity, (don't go to wild with the stuff bit at a time)
Scrap back when hard then use Bog

----------


## Batpig

Dear Gents, 
Thanks very much for all of your advice.  
MasterS - I've got some Thinners lying around here in a can somewhere, so I'll give them a whirl. Greasy-Feel Cutting-Board - great idea!  :2thumbsup:  
Rob and Cherub - Novel ideas both, but I don't have any fibreglass or expanding foam on hand, whereas I do have some B-bog sitting on the shelf. 
An3 - Yes, interesting thought. But the way the wall has been built (ie. a single skin of VJ Boards), and the fact that I've already redone the Shower Recess on the other side, would make this virtually impossible. You see, the extent of the Rot only started to become evident when I began belting Clouts through the Cement Sheeting for the Bath/Shower on the other side of the wall...  _However_... It would definitely be possible to instead simply fix a skin of VJ-look MDF Panelling over the front of the whole wall (if I could find some with the grooves set roughly the right distance apart...) 
So, can anyone suggest a reason why I couldn't just glue and screw some panelling straight on to the face of the current wall (ie. without any added battens...) ?  :Confused:  
Many Thanks,
Batpig.

----------


## rrobor

Good idea as long as the top rail covers it

----------


## Compleat Amateu

Crikey, the manufacturers of buyilder's bog must be lying awake at night dreaming of such a customer! 
Surely it is going to be a dog's breakfast, and replacing the whole lining (gyprock on the outside?) is a less labour-intensive approach?  There just has to be a better way!

----------


## Bleedin Thumb

I would be tempted to use plaster base coat to fill them. But as CA says above...its not that hard to reline it.

----------


## Batpig

Thanks Gents - I am most certainly going to have a close look at the VJ-look panelling during an impending visit to the BigB... :Wink:  
Best Wishes,
Batpig.

----------


## cherub65

> Thanks Gents - I am most certainly going to have a close look at the VJ-look panelling during an impending visit to the BigB....

  If handy with router just buy thin sheet mdf groves will match perfectly :2thumbsup:

----------


## RumpledElf

Have you considered a dado panel? 
You could just stick plasterboard or fibrecement sheets or matchboard horizontally onto that wall - 1200mm high is the laziest way if it covers the holes at that height. Then get something like lamb's tongue MDF skirting and whack it across the top of the dado to get an ornate effect. 
I did that here in a room that had salt damp in a corner that refused to let me patch it - its from a nastily leaking gutter that has trashed the outside of the limestone wall too. Painted the top and bottom halves different colours (shades of the same beige) and the trim in the middle white and it looks really, really good.

----------


## Batpig

Dear Gents, 
Cherub - I will keep that one in mind, especially since I've got another Router permanently out of the Table now. One of my Brothers was toying with that idea as well when he was closing in a verandah for one of his boys, but he was able to find some panelling that fitted in fairly well with the rest of the house. I'll give him a yell about who's got what for sale out there... 
RumpledElf - There is a Belt-Rail at about 1240mm or so up from the bottom of the wall already. It just didn't quite make it into the photo because I was trying to get all three holes into the shot but with a decent degree of close-up. I think panelling the whole wall wouldn't work out too expensive, though, because it's not a very long wall, and it has a doorway in it. I must remember to see what the BigB has got in the way of short 18 Gauge Brads for pinning the stuff in conjunction with some Construction Adhesive... 
Many Thanks both,
Batpig.

----------


## greg9876

One trick that I have found with using automotive bog is to resist the temptation to try and fill a big hole in one go. It is much better to fill it a bit at a time. The final coat should only be a skim coat, it is much easier to get a thin coat level. I think builder bog is very similar to automotive bog.

----------


## rhancock

Batpig, by now you may have got on with the job, but if not, have a look in the timber section in the Weekend Shopper, there's usually a couple of blokes advertising sheets of mdf VJ.  I used them in my kitchen and bathroom and you can't tell they're there.  In fact I need to get some more to line a ceiling.

----------


## Strom

> One trick that I have found with using automotive bog is to resist the temptation to try and fill a big hole in one go. It is much better to fill it a bit at a time. The final coat should only be a skim coat, it is much easier to get a thin coat level. I think builder bog is very similar to automotive bog.

   
Builder bog is automotive bog !!! and vice versa..   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## Batpig

Hi Guys! - Thanks for the replies... 
Richard - I haven't actually been able to knock it off the "to-do" list yet, because the Bathroom tiling has still got me distracted during the bits of spare time that I can string together in between life's "left-field" stuff (which just seems to keep coming at the moment... :Frown: ). When the task becomes more imminent, though, I'll make sure to start regularly flicking through the "Shopper"  :2thumbsup: . 
Many Thanks,
Batpig.

----------

