Exterior Door Hinge Change

[George Bokros]

We are changing our door hardware from brass to oil rubbed bronze finish. Interior doors were no issue, screw holes in new hinges matched the screw holes in the old hinges. Exterior doors no such luck. I have heard of plugging holes from the old hinges with wood golf tees glued in. What are others opinion of this method to solve the problem? To make matters worse there are five exterior doors, only three of them are original to the house, two of them match the third does not so I have four different screw hole patterns.

Thoughts / suggestions?? Would you use the golf tee method?

Thanks.

[Lee Schierer]

McMaster Carr sells hinges without mounting holes https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.mcmaster.com/hinges/mounting-holes~without-holes/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjrppy83LD9AhWsOEQIHWiTDBUQFnoECAgQAg&usg=AOvVaw1BYuApvXWHVvpScBq59S2B

[George Bokros]

McMaster Carr sells hinges without mounting holes https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.mcmaster.com/hinges/mounting-holes~without-holes/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjrppy83LD9AhWsOEQIHWiTDBUQFnoECAgQAg&usg=AOvVaw1BYuApvXWHVvpScBq59S2B

They do not have them with oil rubbed bronze finish plus my hinges have radius corners. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[John TenEyck]

Plug the holes or route away half of the mortise pocket and glue in a niece piece. But the most important thing to do is use 2 longer screws on each hinge, ones that reach into the studs. The screws holding the door in the wood frame won't stop someone from kicking it in. The problem is even worse on the lock side, since there are typically only two security features, the lock and deadbolt. Use long screws with shims that completely fill the gap between the frame and studs.

John

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm with John about the long screws. You want long enough to go into the rough in framing when you have a solid core exterior door, due to the weight.
For filling holes, I drill out the old and glue in a dowel. I never had any luck with the golf tee method, but, had a real good track record on interior doors gluing in wooden kitchen matches - until they banned them.

[Tom M King]

First you'd have to find non-painted golf tees that were large enough to fill up the old screw holes. When I need to do such plugging, I just split out some small plugs with a chisel and a block of wood the right length. They're fine a little irregular with sharp corners to help the glue when pounded in. It might sound like it takes more time, but you eliminate set up time for making something, or finding just the right size dowels or whatever.

[Myk Rian]

For filling holes, I drill out the old and glue in a dowel..

^^^^This^^^^

[Ron Citerone]

I would do what Tom or Myk posted in last 2 threads. More likely to be stronger than a golf Tee in my estimation. I would use type 2 or 3 for exterior door.

[Lee Schierer]

If you aren't using the old holes there is no need to drill a large hole and fill it with a dowel. I would fill the old holes with a 1/8" dowel covered in glue. I sharpen the end of of the dowel with a pencil sharpener. Then drill you new holes that match your oil rubbed bronze finish hinges.

I agree that using longer screws into the door frame is a good idea. Just make sure there is something behind the door jamb in each location that is attached to the studs so you don't pull the door jamb out of position. You can do the same thing on the latch side if you are looking for more security than the 3/4" long screws holding the latch plate.