Have a done several jobs lately on exterior doors where the bottom of jambs have rotted from rain splash.
Happen to be somewhat of a personal expert on this as when we moved into our 57 model house the back utility room (closed-in breezeway) door and french doors on deck had similar issues. I replaced the jambs only on the utility room, and put in an entire new french door unit along with several bottles of wood hardener into the framing and rim joist. Number one thing we did – GUTTERS, amazing fix. No problems after 7 years other than my feist chewing on the brickmold. Also, did the back door and garage jambs on my in-laws 3-yr-old home – ultimate fix – GUTTERS.
My first thing I tell customers is that they should consider at least putting gutters over the doors, decks, etc.
Anyway, everyone always first asks can I replace a piece down at the bottom where it’s rotten. Yes, I can but I’ve been there and done that as well as replaced a lot behind other guys that did that, and I can guarantee you it will look like crap. Plus, to make it look at least the best it can possibly look it will take me half a day and I’ll have to charge then for 8′ of jamb, matching paint, etc to do two 8″ patches.
Then they say can you just replace the whole piece? I say sure, but to be honest it will cost you about the same amount labor-wise or maybe even more than if we just yank out the whole door and put in a new unit. So, if they’re open to paying for a new door that’s what I do. Usually with the metal doors they’re rusted pretty bad at the bottom anyway.
Last week I had to do the same door job twice, because the piece of crap unit I had to get at Lowes (guy insisted on using his charge card from there) was warped beyond my ability to install it such that you couldn’t see light through it. Yanked it out and returned it (well actually I returned 4 pieces of what was once a crappy door unit), and talked him into paying $40 more for one from a reputable lumberyard.
Interested in hereing others experiences on this issue.
Replies
Around here, south Florida, most of the lumber companies sell a replacement jamb that has a 6 inch piece of kiln dried PT fingerjointed on the bottom. Works great.
Pressure treated on the bottome 6 inches? Really? That's cool. They may available here in S Georgia if I ask around a little more.
How do you rout in the new jambs for the hinges? Freehand or with some sort of template?
Here in PA we get jambs on the exterior doors that have the bottom 12" made with a composite material (similar to KOMA ). Even the brickmold is made from the same stuff.
carpenter in transition
Hi Mike,
FrameSavers might be available for you. They have a composite fingerjointed to the ends. URL is: http://www.bmslp.com/FrameSaverED.htm
We ordered a ThermaTru door with a clad FrameSaver. I'm hoping it holds up.
kestrel
At the Pacific Coast Builder conference in San Francisco last June there was a New door jamb product, which used a product Like Trex decking finger jointed to the bottom of the jamb, it looked very Cool.
I'm in the process of buying a home in need of a few repairs, and one of the repairs is a new patio door. The inspector I used recommended the same preventative measure of putting up a gutter to eliminate splashback from the concrete patio. The house also has hardboard siding that needs repairs at the bottom in some areas.
I saw in another post that you're from South GA. What part? I'm in Valdosta.
I live in Leesburg about 12 miles N of Albany. But, being originally from Adel I did a little stomping 'round Valdosta about 20-25 yrs ago.
You in the business or just love FHB, TOH, etc?
Adel huh? Have you heard the one about Adel being so close to hell you could see Sparks?
Not in the business in a hands on way. I have always had an interest though.
Take care up in Leesburg. It's good to see that there are some of us GA boys who believe in quality work and think that if a job is worth doing it's worth doing well.
I just dealt with some of the jamb rot issues you describe. In, fact the rot went into the framing, sub floor, something of a disaster. Didn't want to replace doors as they were beautiful old birds eye maple veneer over solid oak, so replacement jambs were the ticket. Otherwise, I would agree with you - a good quallity replacement door is faster and not much more money....
Agree that the first priority was to prevent splash/snow against the door and jambs - so built a porch cover and working on gutters for the other door.
Second priority was to replace jambs. As finger jointed pine seemed to be the only economical choice (vs. building my own) , I primed lower half with Terminate Clear wood preservative, then Kilz. I've had good luck with that Terminate stuff - doesn't seep through stain or paint and seems like a good, albeit not quite as deep, substitute for pressure treat. Kilz seems to seal over it well and another redundant layer of fungus protection (dry rot being a fungus...)
last was I used composite material (ChoiceDek) for the threshold jambs. I had to custom mill them with my table saw and router to make it work. I like that option mentioned above of buying jambs where the bottom half is composite material.....
Wylie
Success = Work+ Risk + Luck, in that order. Muriel Seibert
Repairing them doesn't have to look like crap. With skill, patience, and the right materials ( sandpaper, glue, wood hardener and wood filler from Minwax) a dutchman can be made invisible.
But in many cases, you may be right that it is better to replace the whole unit if it is just your basic door. A thousand dollar french style would be hard for me to throw away just because the jamb has a little rot in the bottom.
On the gutter issue, I hate gutters, but you are right, when the drip line causes splashback, it is a must. I would refuse to repair a door in such setting if they would not want to include gutter work.
There is a house here with this problem. Five french doors facing the ocean over a deck on same level as the interior floor. Almost no roof overhang. Rot at base of every jmab. The guy asked me to fix them or give him a price anyway. I said that the first thing we would have to do is to install some gutters.
He said, "The house had gutters when we had it built, but my wife hated the look so we took them down. Don't want them back up"
me
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