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McAvoy · 11-11-2014, 08:57 PM

We have a 1973 Sovereign and would like to paint the interior walls. The previous owner had cut the valance and build a wood cabinet covering half of 1 of the living room windows. We have removed the cabinet and the valances. Now we have several holes to fill before we can paint. Any suggestion or advice for filling or covering these ugly holes would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

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**Kevin245** · 11-12-2014, 04:54 AM

If the holes are small I would fill them with rivets, then paint.

Kevin

Belegedhel · 11-12-2014, 08:08 AM

Welcome to the Forums!

Please give us an idea of the size of the holes. You can find aluminum pop rivets, with aluminum mandrels (or "blind" rivets) at your local hardware store that range from 1/8" to 3/16" in diameter. These rivets can also be found in a 1/4" diameter, but these aren't as common (you may have to order them from Grainger or Fastenal), and will require a beefier rivet gun to set them.

If you want to make the repair even less noticeable, you might try "tooling" the area immediately around the holes so that rather than being a flat wall with a flat hole, you have a slightly "funnel" shaped depression around the hole. You could then use a flat-headed machine screw designed to go into a counter-sunk hole, and if all goes well, you could end up with a fairly flat profile, rather than bumpy rivet heads. You could then smear some rubber sealant in to cover the slot in the screw, and paint over it--might make it almost invisible.

good luck!

campindaisy · 11-14-2014, 07:01 PM

We also have a '73 Sovereign and will have some holes to fill. Thanks for posting.

Gnorts · 11-15-2014, 02:42 PM

I liked the idea of tooling a slight depression. You could also sand to bright metal first, then tool the depression, then solvent clean, then - Bondo!