I have rotting wood in the frame of my patio doors?

Question

The rot is in two places, the bottom board that holds a glass window pane and in the bottom 10 inches of one of the vertical supports.

Is there any way to "treat" the wood to strengthen the existing structure and prevent any further rot or will I have to have the patio doors reframed?

Answer 1

I remember a boat-building magazine from maybe 20 years ago where someone tried to "fix" a small patch of dry rot by saturating the affected area with a 2-part epoxy mix, then letting it cure. This *may* fix your problem, but it depends on several factors.

First - are these 2 spots small? If the patches are more than an inch or two across, the wood may be weakened enough that it should be replaced any way.

Will the appearance of any fix like this be a problem? It will look different from the rest of the door. Is this in a main living area, or a back door somewhere that few people see?

third - is the damaged wood supporting a large amount of weight? You said one spot is at the bottom of the vertical support. If most of the door's weight rests on that spot, I'd replace it.

fourth - dry rot occurs when the wood gets wet from time to time. Patching or replacing the damaged wood doesn't mean that the damage won't return. If the wood can still get wet, you may have to do this all over again.

My recommendation is to replace the door, and either find the source of the moisture and stop it, or replace the door with something other than wood.

Answer 2

Well, I was going to do a little repair on the rotted wood on my Atrium doors a couple of years ago. I had bought a little kit and some tools especially for repairing rotted wood. I saw how to do it on the DIY Network. One corner had rotted out. When I saw how much damage there was I just decided to get a new door. My son is a contractor and he was willing to work with me, but he really advised against the repair. We didn't know how stable it would be with the repair and the door is meant to keep the boogies out. I'm not so sure how good the repair is going to look and how you are going to attach new wood to the old frame--biskits. I think you have to get a new door. I wish you the best. I loved that door. The new door is clad with aluminum on the exterior.

Answer 3

The right way of course is to cut out and replace.but many homes have window frames and door frames and gutter boards with rot or other damage. Here is a long lasting repair that works.go to the lumber store and ask for a big bag of saw dust. Get a gallon of cheap wood glue and mix sawdust and glue to make sticky dough fill and shape the stuff with a wide putty knife and let it dry 48 hours this won't work in wet weather so pick a hot dry day..when dry use a rotary sander with rough grit..now paint that wood with good epoxy base paint and add some fungicide. This patch mix lasts longer than the house. The trick is to seal that wood so it doesn't rot or get eaten again.

Answer 4

You can try scraping out all of the rotting wood, and putting in some liquid wood to refill the area. If it goes all the way through or is a huge amount of space, this may not work very well, or may not look very good though.

Answer 5

What a coincidence. We just installed a new kitchen floor and discovered that the double doors are rotten! The carpenter says there is no fix. Mine are probably worse than yours but I have to replace the entire doors. Hope you don't cause if you're like me I will have to save up. Good luck.

Answer 6

You will have to replace the affected portions, including the vertical members (stiles), or replace the door entirely. You can choose a harder wood that can withstand weather exposure.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

drill small pilot holes and inject a wood polymer - can find at Home Depot.