New House Debacle: Repairing A Rotted Door Jamb: Wood Blocks For Filler

By Bruce W. Maki, Editor

Start:

The sad part of this story is the young age of this very expensive, name-brand patio door: 7 years. This house has 6 of these doors, and all of them have experienced some degree of rot in the lower parts of the door jambs. This door had the most extensive rot damage in the house.

	I started by scraping away the rotted wood with a chisel.
	Closer inspection revealed that at the bottom, the jamb was rotted completely through. This damage was severe enough to justify removal of a large section of jamb and replacement with a piece of treated lumber.

	I used a reciprocating saw to cut around the edges of the outside door trim.
	A shim was used to pry the trim away, making it easier to cut the nails.

	I used a sharp knife to cut the paint on the inside casing. This leaves a cleaner break.
	I used a flat pry bar to carefully lift off the casing. I did not completely remove this piece, just pulled it away from the wall.

	I pried open a gap between the door jamb and the jam extension (the wood to the left of the pry bar).
	I cut the nails with the reciprocating saw.

	I cut the jamb extension at the tile floor level, so it could be pulled away.
	With the jamb extension moved aside, I cut the jamb about 12" above the floor.

	I removed the rotted piece and used a heat gun to dry out the surroundings.
	The replacement wood. The two small blocks are replacements for the door stop trim. I had to use two small pieces because I didn't bring a long enough piece of 2x4.

The above pieces were all cut on a table saw. The door stop trim has a rabbet (notch) in one edge to accept a foam/vinyl weatherstrip. In this case, the table saw was crucial to the job, although a router could also do this task.

	The 1x6 jamb had to be notched slightly to fit around the metal and plastic sill.
	I attached the jamb with galvanized deck screws.

	Note how the water is soaking into the new jamb already. The hollow aluminum sill was holding water inside.
	The door stop pieces were installed with galvanized finishing nails.

	The jamb extensions were replaced. I drilled new holes for the long finishing nails.
	The casing was nailed back in place.

	The outside casing was replaced.
	Another view. I had to put shims behind the treated jamb board, to keep it flush with the original jamb.

	I filled the gaps with siliconized acrylic latex caulk.
	And then gave it a coating of oil-based primer followed by latex exterior paint.

And The Guilty Party Is...

A major national brand.  Heavily promoted. A lifetime warranty, supposedly. The local dealer told me that the warranty only covered the door, and not the jambs. Ri-i-i-i-i-ght. Shame, shame... They'll never see any of my money.

See another article about repairing the same type of door using epoxy wood filler.

Copyright © 2000, 2005  HammerZone.com

Written January 3, 2000
Revised January 6, 2005