I have a center-hinge, patio door with one side stationary and one side swinging, that is mostly glass, wood framed. The door is ~20 years old.
The lower rail on the stationary side is rotting on the outside, because the trim strip that covers the glass edge is rotting and letting water in.
I plan to replace the trim strip with a piece of teak. That should minimize future rot. But don’t know what to do about the rotted lower rail. I can’t get the stationary “door” out, so it is hard to work on it.
One thought is to use a router and carve out 50% of the depth of some of that lower rail, then glue in new lumber on top of the sound, remaining piece. The remaining piece is softwood, perhaps pine, so I guess it would be best to replace it with a similar softwood to minimize warp. I could use pressure-treated pine.
Do you think that this would work?
Do you have any other suggestions?
I’ve got quotes of between $1000 and $1200 for a simple new wood patio door unit. I’m hoping to avoid that expense.
Thank you for your suggestions!
Replies
If it's painted, try an epoxy repair.
Thanks for the epoxy suggestion. I've never used it for this purpose, but I see it advertised for the job.
It was "solid stained". Will this work on epoxy?
I'm no epoxy expert, but I believe it will work. You may have to accept that it won't be a perfect match.
I believe epoxy can be tinted also. Someone with more experience will probably chime in. Abatron seems to be the preferred brand. http://www.abatron.com/
They may be able to answer some of your questions.
I'm partial to gluing in new wood. I'd use redwood, with resorcinol glue probably, though maybe Gorilla glue if I'm not worried about the oozing.
It should be possible to remove the fixed door fairly easily. Generally there's a bit of a trick -- removing a stop, or finding hidden screws holding it in.