Steel Clad door repair ????

[Bill Huber]

I have steel clad outside doors on my house. I have one on the back that is not protected from the weather very much. At the bottom the wood has gotten wet and has dry rot in it and will not hold screws for the seal and it just falls off when you open the door.

I was thinking that I could take a router and route out the dry rot and then install a strip of outdoor finished white oak in the gap. I would use silicon on both sides of the strip, press it in and then add a screw on each end to screw it to the wood that is there on the sides.

If I understand steel clad door, they have a wood frame and then are filled with foam and I can see the wood frame on the edges of this door.

Does anyone have a better way of doing this or am I just pi@#$# in the wind trying to fix it an need to just go buy a new door?

[Todd Burch]

I think this is fixable.

Get rid of the rot, and make a new piece to install in it's place, as you state.

However, I would then spritz the void with some water and then use polyurethane glue to glue to the new piece in. I would clamp the front and back of the door, so as the expanding glue does not bulge the door when curing. No screws really needed; being glued on 5 sides will hold it well enough. I would then epoxy the bottom of the door to keep the water out.

[Bill Huber]

I think this is fixable.

Get rid of the rot, and make a new piece to install in it's place, as you state.

However, I would then spritz the void with some water and then use polyurethane glue to glue to the new piece in. I would clamp the front and back of the door, so as the expanding glue does not bulge the door when curing. No screws really needed; being glued on 5 sides will hold it well enough. I would then epoxy the bottom of the door to keep the water out.

Thanks, I like using the polyurethane glue, I had not thought of that and I think it would hold better then TBIII in the long run.
I have some epoxy left from a fiberglass fix so that should work.

Again thanks.....

[jared herbert]

Thanks, I like using the polyurethane glue, I had not thought of that and I think it would hold better then TBIII in the long run.
I have some epoxy left from a fiberglass fix so that should work.

Again thanks.....

I have repaired the bottem of several of my steel doors. Seems like they always rot out on the bottem. I just dug the old rotten piece out with a screw driver or something sharp, cut a piece of treated 2x4 to fit and pounded it in and then put some screws through the face of the door to hold it in place. Glue or silicone would work good too. Jared

[lowell holmes]

Bondo will do good also. Dig out the rotten wood and put a wood stabilizer on the raw wood.

Then fill the cavity with Bondo. They used to market a kit for this repair.

[Matt Meiser]

I wouldn't use Bondo but rather Duraglas or another fiberglass filler. Bondo isn't real waterproof and that's what caused your original problem.

But...they are pretty easy and not terribly expensive to replace. I've been spending a little more and replacing mine with fiberglass doors as they need it, with Azek or similar trim. The one that's left was solid but had cracked paint. By the time I removed it, removed the glass so I could repaint the grids and recaulk, sanded the whole thing and repainted....I should have just put in a new one!

[Bill Huber]

Got it fixed today...

Thanks Todd on the glue, it worked great.

Removed the old wood, all of it , its a window door so it was only a piece 1 1/2" thick and then make a new one out of white oak. Cut rabbers for all the channels for the steel that wraps around the edge. Cut the kerfs for the new seal that goes on the bottom.

Flattened the edge of the steel door so I could get the new board in. Put the Gorilla glue on the board and then sprayed some water into the open area and put the board in, clamped the door with 2, 2x4s as clues on each side.

Let it set for 2 hours, cleaned up the Gorilla glue, hammered the metal into the rabbets and installed the new seal, looks like a new door.

Again thanks for the help.

[Lee Schierer]

Just for the record....you don't need to wet down wood to use polyurethane glue. There is enough moisture in the wood and in the air to set the glue and if you don't wet it, you get a stronger bond and less foaming. Cure time may be a bit longer.

[Todd Burch]

Good deal Bill! Thanks.

[Bill Huber]

Just for the record....you don't need to wet down wood to use polyurethane glue. There is enough moisture in the wood and in the air to set the glue and if you don't wet it, you get a stronger bond and less foaming. Cure time may be a bit longer.

Lee, I did not moisten the wood, just the metal of the steel door.
I have never used it before and the direction on the bottle say to dampen the surface, so I just dampened the metal.