Quick and Easy Ways to Fix a Kicked in Door

Quick and Easy Ways to Fix a Kicked in Door

First we need to determine the level of quality we are looking for, you see not all doors deserve to be fixed the same. What I'm dealing with is the door that repeatedly gets abused, not the Taj Mahal or some upper end neighborhood castle. The type of door that when the owner/tenant looses his keys the first thing he/she thinks is bust it down not get a locksmith, the type where the neighborhood bad boy will be back as soon as you fix it and do it again.

Most likely the jamb by the strike or latch is splintered and the door itself is split allowing the deadbolt and latch to fall out, but the hinge jambs are still holding. First thing, look down on the floor and pick up every single piece of wood or debris you find, if some pieces (big ones) are missing look farther away, they have to be there somewhere. Now remove all the hardware (no not the hinges Einstein) and set all your treasures in a safe place. Starting with the door, give it a squeeze and see how close it comes to closing up, you will probably need to remove and/or rearrange some damaged pieces, sometimes it helps to pry it apart a little with a screwdriver to pick out misaligned parts. Keep trying to squeeze it shut until your satisfied it comes together properly. By now you should have either a couple screw wood clamps or the newer plastic ratchet clamps. Use the clamps but don't think they will compensate for misaligned splinters. Once you're sure it will pull together go to your debris pile and see if any missing pieces can be fitted in where they belong.

Ok your all set, now get out your best thick bodied premium waterproof woodworking glue, this stuff is expensive, don't use white paper glue. Take your clamps off and spread the damaged area apart enough to squeeze glue everywhere, you may have to spread the door apart with a screwdriver while you slop in the glue. Use a skinny popsicle stick to shove it in the back, but get it all over, yes your making a mess, you should've already put down a drop cloth if the house deserves it. Don't forget to fit in your pieces that you saved from your debris splinter pile. Now using your hands squeeze it together, if it feels good continue, if not pull the mess apart and realign what ever is hanging up. Next using a wet rag, clean up your hands and all the drips, including all over the ground. You don't want to be tracking glue all over. At this point decide to clamp it for a few hours or use screws. For screws first clamp the door all over the damaged area, squeeze it to the original thickness. Next using long drywall screws carefully screw it together. You will need to counter sink the heads (I use an oversize drill bit turning backwards) just below the surface or just flush if the house is that quality, but you must countersink because the tapered screw shanks will tend to split your work. As you place screws you will move the clamps around. Be thoughtful, don't place screws where the lock hardware goes. By now you will need to clean up again, the screws should have forced glue out. If you decide to just use clamps, be careful you don't glue the clamps to your work, use wax paper as a separator. If you only have a few clamps try using a strip of 1x4 or even plywood to spread the pressure.

Next step, you can use patch n paint spackle for a truly cheap fix, fill in your counter sunk screw heads and any small voids in the wood, hit it with your hairdryer and in a few minutes you can be painting your repaired door. As an alternative, for a strong repair or when you have deep areas of missing wood, use auto body repair putty (Bondo) instead of spackle. Bondo sets up in a few minutes and is as strong as the wood. You can rasp it, sand it, drill and paint it. Next, lets work on the jamb, most likely you would be working both areas at the same time anyway. In many door kick ins the jamb really takes the brunt of the damage and lots of times big chunks of wood are missing in action. No problem, use exactly the same techniques I've described.

Here's some more helpful tips. Consider sawing out and replacing part of the jamb with new wood (say a 1" by " by 10" piece) but try not to cut all the way through a jamb board as this hinders alignment a lot. I frequently will use four inch drywall screws to bring a damaged jamb back to life. If you are using lots of body filler, build it up in lifts rather than one huge goo job. When filling a large void the filler will sag and drip while you helplessly watch and keep pushing it back up hill. Try placing a row or two of screws so the heads are just below the finished surface, this will help the sagging and will also make sure your filler is firmly anchored to the jamb. Once again pay attention to your lock placement before sticking screws any old place. Another trick you can do is temporarily attach a board along your jamb to act as a form, just be sure to pull it off before the body filler totally sets. You can put in the time and have a perfect finish like an auto body shop does or finish off small voids and imperfections with patch n paint spackle followed by paint and a hair dryer, it's your choice. Using these techniques you should be able to have a finished job in two hours for under $20 in materials. Did you know you can reverse the door and have a fresh new edge to splinter. John 2010 www.triptalkusa.com

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