Door Maintenance: How to Repair an Exterior Door (Easy Steps)
Do you find signs of rot on your exterior door? You need to know how to repair it in order to keep it working and prevent it from further damage. Creating a welcoming entrance for friends, family, and neighbors begins with the maintenance of the front exterior door of your home. provide you privacy but also keep you, your home, and your loved ones safe from outside situations.
If it’s damaged or rotten, you must be wondering how to fix issues so that your exterior door gets its integrity back. In this article, you’ll find a step-by-step process and basic tools to repair your exterior door.
8 Steps To Repair An Exterior Door
Here is the complete process of repairing an exterior door:
Set the door on the surface for repair
Remove the hinge pins out of your door’s hinges. Set your exterior door on a flat surface for repair. Make sure the damaged area or side should face up while making the door ready for repair. If you don’t have an alternate means to lock your house, you can do the repair while keeping the door on its hinges. Either way, you can attach a piece of plywood secured with screws to cover an opening space of the entrance.
Scrape Away Loose Paint
Scrape away loose paint with a putty knife or use a paint scraper to see the damaged area where you need repair.
Search the surface of the exterior door using a sharp object or screwdriver to identify where the wood has rotted. If you find any damaged wood, pull it off to make the repair easier for you.
Drill Your Holes
Drill a series of ¼ inch holes into, not through, the door across the damaged area. Space the holes about 1 inch apart.
Mix your wood hardener
Mix the two-part wood hardener in a small squeeze bottle with a small nozzle. The nozzle should be small enough can allow you to fill into the ¼ inch drilled holes. Squeeze the wood hardener into the holes and use a small paintbrush to spread the hardener all around the damaged open areas.
The hardener allows you to saturate the wood that needs repair. The purpose of the hardener is to compact the wood fibers together and to prevent any further water damage or rot. Leave the hardener for a few days to become dry. The process could take seven days or less depending on the product you use. Cover the door with a plastic sheet to keep it dry and prevent it from raining if you are doing the work in an uncovered area.
Prepare the resin
Prepare the wood repair epoxy resin on a piece of scrap plywood. Put an equal amount of hardener beside the first amount. Finally, mix the two pieces of epoxy together using a separate stirring stick.
Apply the wood filler
Apply the epoxy wood filler into the drilled holes using a putty knife. Smooth additional wood filler into any open areas on the exterior door. Make sure to use the filler more than enough and allow the filler to harden for four hours or overnight.
Remove excess filler
Use medium-grit sandpaper to remove the excess wood filler. Once you remove the excess filler, use the fine-grit sandpaper to smooth the wood up to an extent when it comes time to have the same texture as the original wood.
Prime and Paint
Prime the door with a coat of exterior primer. Allow it to dry. Paint the door with two coatings and, allow each coat to dry thoroughly before proceeding. Place the door again
Get Door Repair Help at Belleli Doors
Exterior Door repair is not a child’s play and requires years of experience, knowledge, and skills to get the work done more efficiently.
Belleli Doors is your door repair and replacement expert who can help you with fast and quality repairs of the doors and windows. If you want your doors to be repaired by specialists, get in touch with us and let the professionals handle the work.
Belleli doors
78 Walkview Crescent Richmond Hill, ON L4E 4H6 Canada
Follow Us On Social Media:
Front Door Repair
Front Door Replacement