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Fixing a wood door...

4K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  bofusmosby 
#1 ·
So (thankfully) I closed on my house yesterday!

Originally built somewhere between the late 1700's and the early 1800's (inspector guesstimated atleast 160 years old), the original stuff is amazingly square, incredibly level, and impressively worked!

The more recent bits, as I had expected, show a much lower quality. Which brings me to my current door situation. In changing the locks yesterday, one wood door was fine (though a few parts in the old handle were broken - took 20 minutes to get it off!), but the front door....

There are two cutouts - one for a handle and its accompanying cylinder, and one for the deadbolt, and its cylinder. The one for the deadbolt is slightly too small, so I'll just be widening the hole a bit more (no time yesterday). The opening for the handle, however, is a mess. There was a large brass plate covering the entire handle area, so I didn't see that beneath that, the hole was entirely too large, and looked like it was widened with a freaking crowbar. So, my first thought is to fill the hole a bit to get it to the size and shape I'd need, then repaint the door (I need to do this anyway).

This isn't really a long term fix, I'll likely replace the door next year, but this is going to really drive me nuts until then. Any tips/alternative ideas to wood filler?
 
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#4 ·
The openings are oddly shaped (due to the chisel approach by previous owner(s)), so I don't think this will work.

This did give me an idea though.

Lets say I fill the door as mentioned by Nate, then I can take a 1/4" thick or so wood strip to put over the hole/epoxy, and paint that. I should have the wiggle room in cylinder length (I'll check later), so I can easily paint to match with wood on wood.

Nate, its more that the portions of the poorly opened hole (face of the door, not side) is visible, since the new door handle is shaped differently, and has two smaller plates instead of one single large piece. It holds the cylinder ok, I just don't want a hole visible from the outside looking into the cylinder more than anything else.
 
#5 ·
If the repair is not structural, then how about a dutchman plug? You'd drill a hole in your door using a forstner bit or plug cutter and glue in a matching-size plug of wood cut from a similar species. Match the grain direction so that expansion/contraction doesn't split the plug or door's wood. You can't use a dowel for the plug because it would be the end grain of the wood exposed. You want to cut a plug so that face grain is exposed. A local carpenter or lumber yard might cut the plug for you (don't expect the home centers to do so, however).

Tim
 
#6 ·
How about a brass coverplate?

Since your plan is to replace the door next year you could just cover the openings with something and re-drill. I had to do a similar repair on my back door a few years back. I bought a brass kickplate (sold to protect the lower part of a wood door from shoe marks) and cut it down. It's attractive and has held up well. I used a product called Marine Tex to fill in the holes before I added the cover plates and re-drilled them. It's a 2-part epoxy sold for boat repair that sets up pretty quickly and machines like wood. My repair is 4 years old, looks good and is holding up fine. The brass I cut was large enough to cover both the doorknob and the deadbolt above.
 
#7 ·
I have been using epoxy for years, and if done right, will have more structural strenth that the wood itself. Once painted, you'll never notice. The dutchman idea is a good one as well. If you do this, try to use an old piece of wood. It would be more inclined to act the same as the old door wood, as far as the amount of expansion and contraction. Sometimes, new wood just doesn't act the same.

Spyco, I have used that marine tex epoxy before, and that stuff is great.
 
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