How to fix holes in corrugated iron fence?

[kerrihames]

Hi,

I am about to repaint my back fence. There are many holes and I would like to repair them from our side. I don't want to put screws through to the neighbors fence. 

I understand that I can use a tape and then a putty to smooth it over, then prime and paint. I am painting it Monument. 

Can someone please recommend products, videos and ideas. 4 pics attached. 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @kerrihames. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about filling holes.

Can you access the rear side of the panels? If so, it might be best to apply flashing tape and then paint. Applying filler to the front face risks making the areas more noticeable unless you sand the filler particularly well to blend it in.

You'd first need to cut back the sharp edges, which are curled outwards with aviation snips, or use an angle grinder to smooth them. Make sure to wear cut-resistant gloves and safety glasses.

You could file the sharp section down and then use an epoxy filler to fill the hole. As mentioned, you'll need to sand well to blend the area.

Let me mention @Dave-1 and @Nailbag to see if they have any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[Dave-1]

Good Morning @kerrihames 

Mmm I have some old Mini-orb fence panels as well. Tho luckily my "extra holes" are not as noticeable.

Option 1 -  You could clean up the edges of the slivers of metal and then you could use a rivet gun and large rivets to fill the holes, for the larger holes you could maybe use rivets and washers tho maybe you would need to have someone else on the other side to hold the second washer in place.

Option 2 - If that isnt possible then maybe some corrorgated patches (Say either a 5cm by 5cm or 10cm by 10cm patch but cut from the same upward and downward curves of the existing fence but with 4 rivets in the corner of each patch. Once painted they hopefully will blend.

Dave

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @kerrihames

You have a few options some of which @MitchellMc has provided. The flashing tape is a great idea because it's only 1mm thick. So after you have removed the sticking out sharp edges you could gut small square pieces and simply apply over the top as it has a sticky backing.

Another idea for a smoother finish would be to apply the flashing tape on the back side if you have access. Then you have the option of the epoxy filler @MitchellMc suggested or builders bog which is a more smoother paste and may sand to a closer finish. You will need to have a small amount of overlap than the hole sizes to give it some grip.

Regards, Nailbag

[Noyade]

G'day Kerri @kerrihames 

Mucking around outside - I found epoxy fiddly and time consuming. I think I would prefer the tape method - especially if you have hundreds of holes.

Regards the ballistic shots - where the metal protrudes towards the viewer - I recommend removing the excess as mentioned above and tapping a piece of steel pipe to close the wound edges as best you can. The edges can still be sharp - hence another reason to go with tape.

Cheers.

[kerrihames]

Hi,

Thank you everyone. As I don't have access to the neighbors side, I will file down the edges of the holes, use the tape and epoxy or builders bog over it. Most of the holes are too big for a rivet.

Much appreciated everyone. 

Kerri