Replace Handle and Dead Bolt in Exterior Door
jimmiem
| Posted in General Discussion on
I have to replace the handle and dead bolt in an exterior door. The new hardware doesn’t line up with the existing holes so I figure that I’ll have to plug and fill the old holes an re-drill new holes. Also, the old door edge hardware plates are long compared to the new ones so I’ll have to fill the door edge area too. Do you recommend cutting wooden plugs and strips or fill with epoxy or a combination of the plugs and epoxy? Also, I was thinking it might be easier to do this work with the door laying on a couple of sawhorses?
Replies
Jim
In my mind, there's too much movement in door wood to expect epoxy to hold and be an invisible patch over the long haul.
I have patched and would advise using same grain direction wood for your repair. You could also get by with thin strips of ply ( I've used Baltic birch scraps with good results to fill old hinge, latch, and lock mortises).
wood glue is usually the bonder of choice, but for that you need near full contact between the pcs. So. The mortises you are patching need to be consistent. If you we're to try epoxies or urethane glues (like gorilla glue), you'll need to clamp in place so the glues expansion doesn't push the patch out of alignment. With Titebond wood glue you can pin the patches in place till dry.
with a good fit you can make the patch near disappear.
you will be wise to fit the new hardware in place so further machining/chiseling will be needed after your patch ( cept for screw hole drilling). You don't want to butcher the patch bashing the xxxx out of it cutting a new mortise.
Baldwin makes some lock sets where the deadbolt and handle are separate units.
Don't underestimate the holding power of a good filled epoxy. If it doesn't bond to wood permanently, then the boat I'm building and thousands more will fall apart soon. If the large holes need to be filled, I would use a wooden plug cut about 1/6" too small. This plug is glued in with sufficient filled epoxy (peanut butter like consistency) that excess will squeeze out. Once hard, the plug will not come out and you can treat it as if its part of the original door material.
Where you can get close fit-up and long grain to long grain matching then Titebond or another pva is the glue of choice.
My preference for exterior wood glue is still resorcinol. The main downside (besides having to mix it) is that leaves a dark glue line.
Why is it your favorite exterior glue? I have a few different favorites, according to the application.
It pretty much sticks forever -- welds the wood together. I have a sort of garden door I glued together with it about 25 years ago, and it's still fine.
My second choice is Gorilla Glue, but of course that likes to make a mess. And I've never had anything glued with it last more than about 10 years (for other reasons, not because the glue failed).
Resorcinal glue has very little gap filling ability which is why I think epoxy gel or thickened epoxy would be best tor gluing a plug into the old hole. Resorcinal is a really good glue, but not so popular anymore. Gorilla glue will fill gaps, but it would be a weak bond. I would consider using polyurethane adhesive too (PL Premium etc.), but it seems messy for this job. Probably yellow glue thickened with microspheres or other filler would work but, it's way down on my list. Thickened (or gel) super glue would work, but would be a poor choice due to the poor fit.
Epoxy is a hard glue so sanding it flush would leave little trace of an outline, making it number one on my list. But really it's not a demanding job here.
I filled a hole in a door with autobody filler once, still holding but there is always a trace outline in the paint.