Timber door repair experts suggest tips on repairing cracks on your door
Are you looking forward to remodel parts of your home? If the answer is yes then you may have to deal with doors as well. Other than home remodelling while walking through the existing doorways in your home you may notice marks on the doors and this may include the main door to your house at the front as well. Typical issues we are referring to include scratches, dents, chipped paint and scratches, etc. With proper and little advance preparation you can easily resolve these issues to make your doors look as good as new. Let us dig deeper and learn few tried and tested tips to fix cracks on your doors!
Why doors become cracked
Before getting down to fixing cracks on doors let us try to understand why cracks develop on doors. As far as interior doors made of wood are concerned they provide a kind of transition from one living space to another. Doors also provide an extra sense of style across your interior. In general doors are a long lasting commodity. A door with a hollow interior easily lasts up to 25 to 35 years and even longer whereas those with solid core of wood inside easily last anywhere between 30 and 100 years. All these doors provide excellent style statements in one hand as well as keep the harsh damp, wintry winds outside.
Wooden doors that are fitted indoors are better protected from weather conditions and other natural elements. But still those are likely to develop cracks and a host of other damages. Doors that are installed outdoors suffer from flying debris, intense rays of the sun, a flying ball and even wildlife. Each of these factors can easily damage the wood material in these commodities. Doors that are fitted in the interiors do not have to experience this kind of abuses but they are more susceptible to ageing explain trained professionals in London having years of experience in timber door repair.
Thankfully, both interior and exterior doors can be repaired. If the damage involved a crack in the wooden panel then the task is actually even easier. You can do it yourself with little DIY tips and tricks or may hire professionals.
Fixing a wood door which is cracked
Now let us get to repairing cracked that door; the process is quite simple and easy and the task should not take you more than two hours. If you are fairly skilled and have experiences in handling this kinds of tasks before then you can sum it up in just an hour. Between wood putty and filler you have to decide the better option to cater to the requirements of the door in question.
First gather all your resources and materials
First you should gather the materials and resources that you need in the operation. These items make the overall task easier and more satisfactory. You will get these items at your neighbourhood hardware store assure professionals with years of experience in wooden door repair.
The items that you require are as following –
- Sandpaper
- Putty knife
- Dremel tool
- Wood putty or filler
- Wood spline
- Epoxy sealer and adhesive
Selecting between wood putty and filler
The first thing you should do on your way to fix a cracked door is fill up the space with putty or filler. How do you decide on this and make sure about the right choice? If the door is painted then wood filler is a better option. Filler becomes very hard when dries up. And so it fills the crack satisfactorily. Then you sand the filler and repaint the door to make it match with the rest of the doors in your home.
On the other hand wood putty is a better option when the damages on your door are minor and hardly noticeable. Putty is more flexible compared to wood filler and does not dry hard. This is the most crucial difference between the two. Anyway, you need to fill up the crack on the door with the putty and scrape it to make the solution look aesthetically more pleasing.
Applying wood filler to the cracks on a door surface
A wooden door specialist in London suggests if you have decided to use wood filler then apply filler to the cracks on the door surface and scoop the putty with a putty knife to make it reach deeper into the cracks. First you should apply only a tiny amount of wood filler to each crack. Then scoop more of it into a crack until it goes beyond the surface of the door.
Filler’s dry time preparation
Once you have applied filler into each and every crack on the door surface you should wait for the filler to get completely dry. Until and unless it is completely dry, you cannot switch to the next step. How much time it takes to dry up completely? That depends on the type or variety of wood filler you use.
Sanding the filled surface
Let the filler inside each crack dry up completely and then you make use of sandpapers to flatten the filled out surface. Even if the filler goes beyond the height of the door there is nothing to be worried about. Just make sure to sand down the extra filler that dries up outside a crack on the door. You should keep sanding until and unless the filler comes down to the same height as the actual door surface itself. There is no need to apply excessive pressure on sanding as that may result in dent in the filler.
Need for repainting the door
Now we are almost at the far end of the task. In this phase it is crucial to bring out the Picasso from inside your soul. Aesthetics matters more than anything else at the last step of the task. You have sanded the filler flat; now find the paint that matches with the door itself. If you want your door to bear a new look then obviously you must choose a different colour. Apply a fresh coat of paint to the entire surface of the door to give it a fresh look.
Here are a few tried and tested tips from professionally trained experts working at the renowned Glazing Works London – according to them if the cracks on any door are of medium size, then it is better to use Epoxy Glue. On the other hand wood spline is more suitable for cracks that are large.
