Wooden Fastener Hole Repair Tips

 10 May 26:

On this episode of Galloping Horse Marine Repair, we fix a gate latch on our 10 foot wide double boat gate. Our gate latch pulled loose because I used the Cheapo brand pot metal screws that came with the latch kit instead of good exterior grade wood screws. Because the screw holes were wallered out, I found a small pine branch in the yard and pushed it into the old holes, to give the new screws something to bite into. We call this "sticking" or "toothpicking" a hole. We have also used hardwood dowels, toothpicks etc... Sometimes we add waterproof adhesive to the repair, such as Titebond III or THIXO. We also could have oriented the wooden block 90 degrees so we weren't screwing into end grain.

Grip Rite exterior grade deck screws were the better choice for this repair.

All fixed. Next time we need to do some work I might call a Pro :) But until then, you wouldn't notice this repair if you were riding by on a galloping horse.