I attended the Repair Care course at Peterlee college, arranged by Garry Burlinson area manager for Fred Williamsons. As a decorator, it’s one of the best things I ever did.
Using Repair Care as a Decorator
I’ve been using Repair Care for over a year now, and it’s an absolutely fantastic product, but I wanted to back up my knowledge of it with the training from Repair Care. After all, once you complete the course you become an approved installer, which is worth its weight in gold!! You can buy Repair Care online by clicking here.
The information they provide is vast and it’s a lot to take in, but one thing becomes very apparent; it will make you question why you used two-part wood filler, especially for exteriors.
Repair Care is a resin-based product, so it won’t crack and open up around the edges like two-part filler will. Once it sets, it also works as a very high strength glue. I’ve stuck two pieces of timber together and I could not physically split them again!! The repair and the adhesion are actually stronger than the timber around it!! Plus, it will expand and contract with the timber, meaning it will stand the Great British weather.
The uses of Repair Care are quite vast. It’s not just for exteriors, it can also be used for interiors, or even as a contact adhesive.
The life span of a Repair Care fix is a minimum of 10 years. It can also be used for splicing wood together, which saves a joiner faffing about. You can cut the splice 10mm short, prime the area with the dry fix, leave 20mins and put the repair care on both surfaces, stick together and scrape off the excess. It’s so easy to use!!
The Repair Care Super Finish 2 in 1 Fine Surface Filler is another excellent product. Used to fill over the area you have repaired to leave a flawless finish. Or to use as you would two-part filler to fill nail heads, screw heads etc. It drys in 30mins, but like the dry flex 1,4 and 16 its open time is much much longer than two part filler.
Yes it does cost more than a pot of wood filler, but it blows two-part out of the water. You have much much longer to play with for a start, but it’s so much easier to shape. There is no sagging at all.
Here’s an example of a repair I did after a joiner told the customer the “window is beyond repair”.
It’s very very surprising how far a tube of Repair Care goes. You will look at it as a product and think there expensive, and you also need specialist tools to apply it, so the initial cost is quite high. It’s worth it if you are a professional though. We need our work to look good and last, which Repair Care does.
On the Repair Care training course there’s a mixture of study and practical work. You learn what you can do with the products first. Then you get hands on experience with a miniature corner of a window. You get to take this home when you’re finished.
Once you have completed the course, Repair Care will upload your details to their website, so anyone looking for a repair will come across your details directly from repair care.
Their website is full of guides on the products along with a pricing guide.
Norman, who ran my course is a fellow Smoggie (UTB). At the end of the course he made sure everyone had one of his business cards, and told us all any problems or advice just give me a ring.
You can buy packs of Repair Care bundles to get you started. The basic one is the trial pack which comes with plastic filling blades. They won’t last long, but I’ve been using my normal filling knifes without a issue. The starter pack is about £250 inc vat. Click here to see online prices.
The contractor pack which comes with solid metal filling blades, bigger mixing blades, and the specialist pack, also comes with a router/die grinder which I believe is roughly £400.
I bought the trial pack (tight I know) and bought a die grinder and tips of ebay for £60 see link below.
Die grinder:
Look at this on Amazon – https://amzn.to/3fudJA4
Tips:
Look at this on Amazon – https://amzn.to/3fm64Up
I would highly recommend the course and repaircare, I haven’t used two part filler since I started using repaircare. Invest in yourself and it will pay off.
I hope you enjoyes my Repair Care review.
There is a full review of the training course here
Summary
Repair Care Review
Repair Care is an epoxy filler used to make timber repairs.
Product Brand: Repair Care
4
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Longevity of repairs.
Cons
- Expensive
- Has a shelf life.
- You need specialist equipment to apply it.
Repair Care Alternatives
There are a couple of alternatives to Repair Care. The first big contender is Timbabuild, which is generally cheaper and easier to use, but they do use some fillers with the product. It can slump a little bit more than Repair Care, but it is still easy enough to us.
The other one is Oxera. These are new on the market and seem to be like Timbabuild, but cheaper again and slighly better Oxera are British made too.. Great products and easy to use.
What a great review
Dear Paul,
Your review was a great read and assurance I can repair loads of my conservatory frames. I would be most grateful if you can give this retiree a few tips on using RepairCare.
1. Is Flex4 (duo) better than the Flex4 2-in-1?
2. I am inexperience and slow, should I use the Flex16 instead of Flex 4 for larger holes? What is their respective working time?
3. Is Dry Seal better than silicon for between the glass pane and the beading?
4. To protect the adjoining wood from future rot, what can I use as a sealant?
Thank you very much,
Ann
Dear Adam,
Many apologies for addressing you incorrectly in my first comment.
Ann
I would be very interested in replies to this as I need to do a lot of repairs on a Victorian conservatory.
Hello,
does it mean that instead of using HB42 Ultimate Wood Filler, Oxera Resin Repair
the current best is Repair Care products?
thanks!