Repairing crack in exterior door casing?

Ten plus years ago I ordered 8 doors for a shop addition from our local lumberyard's door manufacturing facility. I've had problems with half of them. The dry rot in at the bottom of two jambs, I can easily enough repair. The question is what to do with thin glue-joint splits running the entire length of the jamb? This is a jamb that gets both rain and sun.

Apparently the way they built doors for 6" walls was to take a 4" door and extend the jamb and sill by 2". That's where the full length cracks are -- right along that vertical glue line where it faces the morning sun. These are double doors and otherwise sound - no movement, still square and solid. But the inward swinging door jambs are exposed to the weather -- and the crack opens and closes with wet and dry weather. While the full length crack is tiny, simply re-priming and painting with a full latex (some give to it) wasn't a fix.

One idea is to run a saw blade through the crack and use a filled epoxy. Essentially re-glue it with epoxy and hope it holds. I haven't had luck with that the one time I tried it on a square wood column.

Another is to run a tiny dovetail bit the length of the crack and fill it with body putty. So, it would be keyed in. Dry rot repairs with body putty have held up well for years, but I don't have experience with so much wood/putty length and extremes of moisture and sun.

A third idea is to find some very thin material and just adhere it over the entire exposed part of the jamb. Anything that will take paint, moisture, and sun. Maybe if I can find a fiberglass panel about 4" wide by door height tall and use a waterproof contact cement?

Anyone dealt with this before and have a fix that will hold up?

Find a trim company and have it clad with aluminum. I had replacement windows installed and the installer was an artist with a bend brake.
Joe

So much millwork is made from balsa wood it would seem

You may want to structurally fix it before covering it, but leaving it exposed it is going to fail

Thanks, Joe, for the aluminum trim idea.

I used to be in the door business.(building them) I used to have to go to the home and repair raised panels. I used plastic resin glue, and forced it into the crack. Keep in mind, that this is a band aid cure. I used plastic resin because you mix it with water, and can make it thick for vertical surfaces.

Don’t cut the crack, just squeegee in some West System epoxy. Add just a little bit of filler to thicken slightly. When it filled, put blue painters tape over your fix to help keep the epoxy from running out. If you get the crack filled its fixed. It might take more than one application with some sanding. Paint it and done.

Basically agree with Henrya. Except it is reported that the crack/glue-line has been contaminated with latex paint. so it may need sawed out. If it needs sawed use the thinnest blade possible, or a Fein type half-circle saw; or even a short blade jigsaw. Also if sawed, feather strips might be useful to force the epoxy deeper and to keep it from sagging out. The filled epoxy mix can be made quite thick with cotton flocking & maybe some micro-balloons.

If the crack is dry and has not been contaminated with other substances including other types of glue, I sometimes blow a neat coat of WEST in, (protect eyes, cover hair, don't wear good cloths). Then make up a fresh batch fairly thick with cotton flocking and spend a lot of time squeegeeing it. If you are thorough it's essentially permanent. Sand the face flush when the glue is set.

If only structural consolidation is necessary & you and plan to clad it anyway, get some gunnable "caulking" tubes of epoxy that mixes in the applicator nozzle. Drill some strategic 1/4" holes and gun it in to agglomerate with whatever is behind. Obviously think strategically both to conserve expensive material, and to adhere the most structure with each penetration. Tape or plug the holes until glue sets, chisel off excess, and apply your preferred cladding.

I'd probably use WEST and repaint; but don't know your situation

smt

Use tightbond exterior and with your thumb rub it into the crack if you cannot pop the door apart.

Clamp with bar clamps and done.

They use lousy glue that gives way...something like gorilla glue.

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PeteM said:

Ten plus years ago I ordered 8 doors for a shop addition from our local lumberyard's door manufacturing facility. I've had problems with half of them. The dry rot in at the bottom of two jambs, I can easily enough repair. The question is what to do with thin glue-joint splits running the entire length of the jamb? This is a jamb that gets both rain and sun.

Apparently the way they built doors for 6" walls was to take a 4" door and extend the jamb and sill by 2". That's where the full length cracks are -- right along that vertical glue line where it faces the morning sun. These are double doors and otherwise sound - no movement, still square and solid. But the inward swinging door jambs are exposed to the weather -- and the crack opens and closes with wet and dry weather. While the full length crack is tiny, simply re-priming and painting with a full latex (some give to it) wasn't a fix.

One idea is to run a saw blade through the crack and use a filled epoxy. Essentially re-glue it with epoxy and hope it holds. I haven't had luck with that the one time I tried it on a square wood column.

Another is to run a tiny dovetail bit the length of the crack and fill it with body putty. So, it would be keyed in. Dry rot repairs with body putty have held up well for years, but I don't have experience with so much wood/putty length and extremes of moisture and sun.

A third idea is to find some very thin material and just adhere it over the entire exposed part of the jamb. Anything that will take paint, moisture, and sun. Maybe if I can find a fiberglass panel about 4" wide by door height tall and use a waterproof contact cement?

Anyone dealt with this before and have a fix that will hold up?

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Dad did. Country folk. Accustomed to growing our own hardwoods since forever-ago. Also knew they were available "store bought".

Pulled the door (it isn't all that hard, actually). Pulled the jamb (that ain't hard, either, just LOOKS ugly... temporarily).

Set up his Dewalt radial arm saw and milled the door stops and jamb out of one-piece Oak.

End of problem. Faster than f**k-with, too. By a LOT!

I'm lazy. I just use mass-market commercial steel door jambs from the likes of Long Island Fireproof Door. Big Box carry them or can GET them.

Our History

Stamped steel. Phosphatized for painting. Pre-equipped with adjusters and reinforced pockets for heavy commercial ball-bearing hinges and industrial-grade locks and strike plates.

You have all seen these. They have competitors. There are good standards, so hardware interchanges.

It's the same stuff used on millions of schools and public buildings.

Prettier doors won't care if they have plebian jambs, will they?

Thanks, all, for the suggestions. I'll run a thin blade along the crack and fill it with epoxy (thanks Stephen & Henrya). If that fails, go to cladding.

One time I tried that before (cutting open a failed urethane glue joint and stuffing in epoxy, held in place by tape) the epoxy also failed. Maybe better luck this time -- could be I left some of the urethane behind. Did I say . . . pretty much given up on urethane glue.

PeteM said:

Thanks, all, for the suggestions. I'll run a thin blade along the crack and fill it with epoxy (thanks Stephen & Henrya). If that fails, go to cladding.

One time I tried that before (cutting open a failed urethane glue joint and stuffing in epoxy, held in place by tape) the epoxy also failed. Maybe better luck this time -- could be I left some of the urethane behind. Did I say . . . pretty much given up on urethane glue.

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That lazy, just clean it.

Run "Nashua" brand stainless steel foil HVAC tape down it. Trim it. Mask adjacent. Krylon or rattle-can Epoxy "Appliance" paint it.

Repeat once in a while.

Only takes a few minutes, each go. Less invested if Earthquake or fire wipes you out..

It's a door jamb. Not the Forth Bridge.

Not quite that lazy, Bill. Thought of tape did cross my mind, though . . .

Dont waste your time trying body filler. I put body filler on a door with similar exposure to yours and it lasted about a year and a half before it separated from the wood. I think you have a good plan with the epoxy and metal cladding as plan B

PeteM said:

Not quite that lazy, Bill. Thought of tape did cross my mind, though . . .

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Nashua puts some right tough adhesive on their brand. HVAC duct seams EXPECT thermal and fan-vibration movement, even condensation, have to cope.

And it isn't really "structural" is it? Just "cosmetic".

Stainless tape is surely a step up from the OD "Duck tape" that UH1-B slicks were made of after a few months of taking ground fire. Bell cudda made 'em from tape in the first place and saved a lot of aluminum.



BTW.. those LI frames? I first arrange the opening to fit the steel. They sort of snap together. Both sides, top end, there's a neat diagonal seam, plates back of that lever-lock into the top. There's hardly any work at all to installing them once you grok the adjuster plate's role.

An ablative fire-rated cousin to "Great Stuff is used to fill the voids and seal them to complete the fire-barrier.

Five of of my fire doors use that make, 90-minutes rated. A couple of others - also 90-minute rated - were triple the cost, but are also sound-deadening/thermal insulating. Their jambs are easy to assemble as well, even have the fire-rated gasketing already in the channel and the sill.

Not a surprise that skilled-labour-cost aware Commercial property builders don't put up with the crap sold to Harry Homeowner. Surprise is the better grade goods they use are not much more dear than the overpriced residential goods - sometimes much LESS expensive.

Ball-bearing hinges with integral, concealed, adjustable-force closer springs plus the higher-grade and larger size locksets and strike plates wanted, OTOH can cost as much as the framed door itself or a bit more.

Mind - I'm not running a school or the tax office, so they'll not wear out in a very long time, either! 25 years, not even a need of lube yet.

Titebond in any formulation is garbage for exterior consolidation, and it sets too fast to penetrate well unless it is cool. Worse if the substrate is oxidized or dirty. So is "plastic resin glue". I'd almost be they were the original culprits where glue-line separation has occurred. The only responsible adhesives for exterior edge gluing work in high class installations is phenol resorcinal, or epoxy such as WEST formulated for the job. Titebond glues can be used for some assembly bonds such as M & T's if they are protected from direct soaking and don't get a lot of direct sun/heat.

Using filled epoxy for a repair situation allows the best opportunity to penetrate through oxidation, consolidate dirt & insect parts while maintaining structural integrity, and permits the option to make a judgement call as to whether squeezing the crack shut again, or leaving it open but packed full is less conducive to future stress with the built conditions and average environmental equilibrium.

If cladding is the option, though, concentrate on consolidating structure so the hinge side jambs are not flexing & oriented so the hinges don't bind, and the lock side jambs are solid. The door should hit the weather seal without stress all the way round. If structure can flex under the cladding or is not aligned with the plane of the door, the doors will eventually stop working well and the cladding will be compromised.

smt

Listen to Stephen.

henrya said:

Listen to Stephen.

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Learned that one long ago. Stephen is a terrific craftsman and a great contributor here.

All has been touched on here and yes- epoxy will give good service.
It has a couple of things going for it including being a good gap filling adhesive.
One down side is most formulations are fairly brittle so will crack off of underlying wood if the stress on joint exceeds the bond.
Another challenge is to have a FULLY dry seam which might be difficult to achieve if the jamb generally remains wet in the weather.

The trick in a repair like this is to get the epoxy fully through the seam- better to kerf than have a starved joint.

A point that hasn't been covered well enough perhaps is stabilizing the jamb from movement.
The challenge to the seam is the fact that it works as the sun and moisture cycling hits it.
If the plank is stabilized holding the seam closed with adhesives becomes much less of a challenge.
For my work the approach is to seal all surfaces thoroughly- I would wonder in your case how well the backside of the jamb has been finished and if water is getting behind.
For boat carpentry fully "encapsulation" of wood parts with epoxy is a standard to prevent joints moving and water setting in to start rot.
For larger timbers a rabbet is milled over the seam which is payed with a butyl seaming compound to keep water out as the parts work.
A trick that can be employed for problem seams such as your jamb (or the glued up column you mentioned) is to cut or simply scratch in a rabbet at top of seam.
This is filled with a sandable caulk- even Dap painter caulk will do- sanded flat and painted over.
The "Rabbet" can be simply worked in with a scratch awl held a low angle and dragged along crack pressing into the wood.


I suppose I would start by taking a careful look at the finish of the parts and any caulking used.

I use lots of epoxies in the work I do and have come to favor the Six10 packaging from West for small jobs such as this.
The product is pre thickened to a good viscosity for laminating/filleting.
Expensive for what you get but a plus in saved time mixing, filling applicators etc.
The mixing nozzle is just left on the tube to cure- to use more product on another day just unscrew and install another:

Six1 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive • WEST SYSTEM

Thanks, TR, for the heads up on "Six1."

Back priming/painting might have saved this along with careful consideration of the fairly large width of jamb that got nailed down - restrained. If I was making this new and had time and budget, I’d coat it all in West System all the way around before install and expect it to out last me.