Fix gap between metal windows and casing
It seems that the wood casing in my apartment has separated from the metal double hung windows, probably by some sort of settling or the wood contracting. Now there’s an unsighly 1/8″ gap between the casing and window for the full perimeter of the window unit. Can I just fill this with bondo or some type of epoxy and repaint? Or will it just continue to move in the future? See my attached drawing for a better explanation.
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I would use a small smoothed out beautiful bead of a caulk that would adhere to both the casing and the metal frame. Urethane is one, TitebondWeathermaster is another. These are not easy to work with, but will hold with movement of the two differing substances.
Seasonal movement is oftentimes the culprit-heat on..........shrinkage....................Summer/no heat--humidity............expansion.
A decent latex painters caulk will clean things up and is easier to apply. a couple of season's movment will no doubt show the crack again with latex products.
In either case-the color matching the window or paint color if painted trim, is the best way to go.
Bondo or other hard filler on an eighth inch gap would be an exercise in futility.
You need something that flexes -- not Bondo or epoxy. Some sort of caulk, basically. I'd probably go with a paintable siliconized latex, but others here would probably favor a polyurethane or some such.
Agree with Caulk. Personally I use QUAD for everything like this, it is an polyurethane caulk. If it moving a lot, maybe try a caulk called big stretch (?) or something like that.
GEOCELL is my go-to-caulk for this sort of thing. It is toolable, paintable, and has up to 800% elongation