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In about 2 weeks I'm doing a little cathartic destruction of a deck on the back of my house. The deck came with the house and has suffered YEARS of neglect, it's beyond repair, built incorrectly, and looks awful so OUT it goes !!

My problem is: Whoever built the deck bolted a 2x6 into the siding of the house to act as a joist for the floorboards. When I remove the 2x6 I'll have a few bolt sized holes in my siding. Winter is fast approaching and the last thing I need is snow getting into the holes, melting, refreezing and causing untold havoc on the interior.

My question is: What is the best way to fill in the holes in the Aluminum siding? I don't have any spare siding laying around so I can't replace the damaged pieces so I need to plug them somehow.

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Do you have (or can you acquire) any pieces of aluminium or other non ferrous metal at all?

If so you could cut small squares that will fit over the holes, screw them over the hole using self tapping screws and seal round the edges of the patch. Painting would give it an extra layer of protection.

It might not look particularly pretty, but will do the job until you are able to replace the affected pieces.

Alternatively, some sort of mastic filler might work, but you'd have to check it adhered to aluminium otherwise it would just fall out. However, I think this would look worse than a patch.

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  • I thought about screwing it in like an HVAC duct patch. I could just run some silicone sealant around the edges and screw holes and that should keep any water out. I'd just have to paint it.
    – user45
    Commented Sep 22, 2010 at 11:37
  • +1. Tin flashing should work OK, cut to size and sealed.
    – Niall C. ♦
    Commented Sep 22, 2010 at 11:44
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    @Niall C. - Would you use silicone caulk? or something different?
    – user45
    Commented Sep 22, 2010 at 12:13
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    @Scott: I like Lexel caulk, sashcostore.com/sashco/stores/1/Lexel-4-Pak-P2C1.aspx. A couple of years ago, I helped a friend seal some basement window openings with flashing, some metal screws and Lexel. I'd never heard of it before, but now I'm a convert. :) We got it at Ace Hardware, but I see it's available on Amazon if you don't have Ace near you.
    – Niall C. ♦
    Commented Sep 22, 2010 at 12:56

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