Door Repair Plymouth

Solid Wood doors are fairly cheap to buy nowadays, but it is still worth thinking about repairing rather than just buying new. Door repairs are easily manageable by most people, and there are very few things that can happen to a door which cannot be fixed with a little time, patience and our door repair guide.

The panels of solid wood doors can split occasionally, usually due to the wood drying out too much, but sometimes just because the door is slammed too often. The method of repairing a split door panel depends on how the door is finished (painted, varnished or untreated).

Painted Doors
With a painted door, assuming the frame and everything else is ok, repairing a split panel is as easy as filling the split or crack with the appropriate wood filler, letting it harden and then sanding it down and painting over it to match the rest of the door.

Natural or Varnished Doors
Because filler would show on a varnished or natural wood door, you will need to close the crack or split another way. The easiest way to do this is to force the two halves of the cracked panel back together by hammering a dowel into the edge of the door.

1. Clean out any varnish from the crack, being careful not to strip away any of the wood.

2. Drill two or three (depending on the length of the crack) 8mm holes in the edge of the door to line up with the closest edge of the cracked panel. Measure the width of the door stile and mark the drill bit at the correct depth so that you don’t drill in too far (or not enough). The idea is to take the hole up to the edge of the panel where it sits in the frame.

3. Cut some lengths of 8mm dowel slightly longer than the width of the stile. These will be knocked into the holes to push the crack closed.

4. Squirt some PVA wood glue into the crack in the panel, and into the holes drilled in the stile. Insert the dowels and knock them in so that they push on the edge of the panel and hopefully close the split or crack.

5. Wipe off any excess glue and then let the it dry, leaving the ends of the dowels protruding from the edge of the door stile. When the glue is dry, trim off the ends of the dowels with a hacksaw and sand them flush with the edge of the door. Sand to flush any glue which has seeped out of the crack until you can only see wood.

If a door suddenly starts to catch on the floor where it once swung freely, it is usually because the hinges have become loose or the joints of the door are loose.

Check the screws holding the hinges, both on the door and the frame, and see if they can be tightened. If the screws will not hold, you will need to remove them and fill the holes. To do this, drill out the loose holes with a 8mm drill bit and push glued dowels into them. Once the glue is dry, trim off the ends of the dowels, drill new pilot holes and refit the screws.

If you are working on the hinges whilst the door is still hanging, make sure you wedge the door and pr...