Door advice needed

[rminv]

I just installed a pre-hung exterior door with weather stripping. It went fairly well until I went to install the strike plate on the door jamb. I enlarged the pre-cut 'hole' with a chisel to accomodate the hardware that I bought. Unfortunately a crack opened vertically along the latch side of the jamb. The (long) crack is near the edge of the jamb.

Does anyone have any advice on how to solve this? Do I have to saw out all the nails/shims, remove the door, remove the latch side jamb and try to pound in a replacement side? If I try this, should I anticipate problems with the weatherstripping?

Thanks, Tim

[RickH]

If it's wood I'd just squirt some waterproof wood glue deep into the crack and "C" clamp it tight overnight (a clamp every 6 inches or so). The glue bond will be stronger than the original material was. Let the oozing dry too then just cut that off with a sharp chiesel or block plane once it's hard, (if you try to wipe the glue ooze while it's wet it will just seal the pores and make the surface impossible to stain later).

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Only thing I'd do different is to first drill a small hole at the top of the crack. That can prevent it from traveling further. Once you do that, you can even spread the crack a tiny bit to bet the glue in easier.

[aemeijers]

Don't ya hate it when stuff like that happens? Almost done with a project, and then oops? (That is one reason Norm keeps harping on keeping wood chisels razor-sharp. You barely need to tap them with the hammer to cut into soft woods like a door jamb. Or did chisel get stuck, and you put sideways pressure on it to get it out?)

Before ripping the door out, I'd try some epoxy in the crack, along with a couple of deeply countersunk LONG skinny screws through the face of the brick mold, edge ways through the jamb, positioned to miss the striker holes. You can plug the screw holes with little pieces of dowel.

Yeah, it'll be tedious work, and require some very careful aiming, and some artistic spot refinishing. But it falls into the 'nothing to lose' category.

aem sends...