Hello all,
I am home examining what was a beautiful new door in our house last summer. My son was inadvertantly locked out while we were out of town at a conference and rather than take out a cheaper to replace window, he kicked the door in. (He was the reason the first door had been replaced!) It resulted in a half moon shaped piece of the door on the trailing edge of the door bolt being split off in one chunk. It is about a foot long by about 3inches wide and deep and is broken away from a bit of the exterior of the door as well as from the part which would lie closest to the jam near where the catch for the knobs bolt exits the door itself.

My question is this - I have several brands of epoxy, plus rod bond, plus Gorilla Glue type urethane glue or old fashioned wood glue that I can use to try to repair the door. It is a hardwood veneer exterior - with a cohesive wood chip/chunk core. It appears that the interior would match up closely enough to provide a good surface area match up to provide plenty of adhesive strength in the eventual bond. I am just wondering what everyone thinks would be the best adhesive to try to repair this - it is about $800 to re-replace this door and I am definately going to try the repair route before I throw in the towel...

You guys have enough experience with wood and epoxies/adhesives - please help me out.

Ah, upper-teen-agers... frustrated and seeking advice in Iowa,
Chuck Ungs
P.S. At least he graduates high school this spring!

call or email and i will try to help
j p timberlake
336-778-1308

Chuck,

When I did window and door millwork, we used one of three different products. Titebond waterproof (I think its II or III), Resorcinol, or Weldwood. Never had a single callback for repairs.

Hope that helps,
Paul

You have a cople of options that will work for that type of repair. Far and away the strongest wood glue product I have EVER used is Elmer's ULTIMATE. I would say its the exact same formula as Gorrila Glue if I had to put money on it.

It is NOT without its flaws. It requires moisture to cure so you will need to ensure that the ajoining surfaces are misted with water right before you glue. This glue also EXPANDS. So....while it cures, you need to be on top of things to clean off the ooze or you will have to sand/chip and repaint.

All things considered, if you glue your door with this glue correctly and clamp it while it dries(as per the instructions) you will never have a problem with your door.

It should repair okay. As you probably are aware, the strength of the glue is probably you least concern. Most epoxies and wood glues will be strong enough to hold. The most important thing is to get the peice to fit back in correctly and to work out a way to clamp everything so that it is perfectly flush. And to find all the little chips and splinters that you can. I would test fit and I might actually cut away some of the splintered material down inside the door to make sure the veneers on the surface fit as flush as is possible. Use some aluminum foil or wax paper under caul blocks to clamp if that seems appropiate. Sounds to me like you could just use tightbond. It is fairly easy to clean off and won't harm the surface with squeeze out. If you get it clamped and glued nice and flush on all sides then there are a lot of fillers that can be use to fill any cracks or missing piecies. I prefer stick shellac from Woodcraft or other woodworking stores for this kind of repair. It comes colored, you melt it in, and it sets up when it cools so you can clean it up right away. There are also wax pencils of different colors in the paint department at Home Depot that are easy to use.