Thread: One solution to fixing hole left in wall after removal of box AC unit

Over a year ago I posted the question ‘what to do with a big ugly hole, approximately 84cm(w) x 52cm(h), left in a lounge room wall left after a very old box-type AC was removed?’

The house that I have been slowly renovating over the past couple of years is a circa 1910 weatherboard, with ~10cm wide hardwood timber boards lining both the internal walls and the ceilings. As it has a lot of nice old original features – such as 3.6m ceilings, picture rails, 4 pane sash windows, leadlight doors, a fretwork archway, and hand-painted timber fireplaces – I wanted to something that would fit in with the ‘Federation’ look of the rest of house, and not look too tacky (i.e. as a simple patch-up job might do).


However, the main problem was that I’m female, working almost entirely on my own, and fairly unskilled. So the replies that were made on this forum advising that I should replace the all of the damaged timber boards with replicas proved to be just too difficult, even if this was the best solution. Firstly, because I couldn’t find any boards that were exact matches for the originals; and secondly because I decided that the task of removing the adjacent timber window surrounds & dado rails, replacing the boards, then putting everything back together again properly and without damage was beyond my limited capabilities.


Other possibilities included getting a window made to fit into the gap (too expensive), or filling the gap in with glass bricks (but this would probably look hideous in an old house). So I finally decided to follow the suggestion made by one of the men who installed the new split system AC, which was to construct a small traditional-looking shelving unit that would fit into the gap, backed by a piece of foil-backed insulation. Not the ideal choice by any means, but at least it was something I felt I could actually cope with.


I was able to find exterior weatherboards that were almost identical in size & profile to the originals, and have used these to fix the hole on the outside wall. The end result isn’t all that fantastic, but it passes muster if you don’t look too closely.

The pics show the end result of the interior fix, made using a combination of timber profiles and pine boards purchased from the local Bunnings; plus lots of nails, panel pins, screws and timber glue. It’s obviously not an authentic feature, but it doesn’t look too out of place. Best of all, there was no danger of my making a huge mess of the wall & window surrounds, which was the biggest concern.

So maybe there's more than one way to skin a cat?