Carpentry odor Q: Bondo indoors?

[Psurfer]

A carpenter wants to save a large plank that has some older visible termite damage by filling in the termite tracks w/Bondo. I trust his judgement, but not necessarily his sense of smell; this is in a bedroom in a house that will be put on the market very soon. Will the lovely Bondo smell be detectible for days and days, even after painting over it?

[papercup]

No, it dissipates in a few days, although the Bondo dust (if sanding) will prolong it.

Bondo is used in basement-wall crack repair (along with 2-part epoxy)

I have used it in a basement, then painted (before a house sale).

Odor gone in a few days. Likely the paint odor will last longer.

Hey, you should have fresh bread or cinnamon rolls baking before your open house anyways.....

[Paul F.]

Just make sure those termites are DEAD before you seal their corpses in...

[cbelt3]

It's OK. I did that on a window frame before selling our old house (water damage from a bad caulking job, and I fixed that too). That 'fresh paint smell' is often synonomous with 'new house smell'. Or just put a pot of Brussels Sprouts to simmer on the stove before you leave ;-)

[Grateful11]

Is this plank supporting any weight?

[Psurfer]

It's done. (Sorry I had to post and run the other day.) Today the smell is Mostly gone, now that it's cured. I'll paint over it soon, and hopefully that will be the only aroma left, other than the baked goods...

Tellingly, when I let out a noise about the odor at one point, the carpenter said, "really? I don't smell anything". I think Bondo fumes are pretty harmful.

Don't worry, Grateful, no weight-bearing.

I didn't realize the extent to which carpenters use Bondo. The stuff is a basic part of the toolkit these days.