The previous owner of my home mounted curtains on the front entry door. I took them down because they looked so bad, but now I have empty screw holes where the screws were for the brackets.
What would be the best product to use to patch those holes ? and that won't crack and fall out 2 years from now ?
Or a wooden steel clad door. If that, it's probably not hollow in the corners. If really steel***, it probably is hollow.
I had neighbors with a steel door with a life-time guarantee, the kind advertised on TV. When the burglars broke through it, the door company said they would get a free replacement door. Life-time guarantee.
***To find out what it's made of, remove the door and put it in the bathtub. See if it floats or not. Don't let too many bubbles come out of the holes or too much water get inside the door.
Yes indeed.
They have holes in the middle. (although that might be cute. )
I might glue a small square or squares of metal over the area with the holes. with a thin layer of PC-7, JB weld or best,, 5-minute epoxy, because you can hold it in place until it sets.
I had a 1970s steel door with decorative plastic do-dads on it. They were mounted via plastic barb-like extrusions and merely pushed into holes in the steel. I removed the do-dads and used Bondo to fill and slightly over fill the holes and then sand it smooth. Worked great.
| Do I have to lay to door flat to use any of these epoxies ? | Would be nice to leave the door in place and just glue.
I'd second Bill Gill's advice. Bondo is quick and will stay almost anywhere. I also use it to fill hinge mortises, casing joints and other areas where spackle or wood putty would fall out. The one critical point with Bondo is to keep track of time. In under five minutes you can shear off the excess with something like a wallpaper scraper. In a couple more minutes you'll need a Surfiorm plane. After maybe 10 minutes you have a very hard surface that will take work to sand. The point being that you don't want to glop it on and then expect to come back tomorrow and sand it down.
If the Bondo ever does fall out you might consider just attaching something that will cover the holes and looks like it belongs there.
If you use JBWeld or Bondo, they will sag a bit. Same for any epoxy filled with whatever. However, as they start to set they get firmer, just push it back. It can take anywhere from 2-20 minutes (Bondo) to start to set,1-3 or more hours for epoxies, depends on how much catalyst you add.
Bondo is polyester resin with (mostly) talc and will set up the fastest.
The holes may have a ridge from the previously installed screws. Sand the paint surface to rough it up and then just dimple the surface around the hole so that the hole is depressed below the surface of the door. You can use a ball peen hammer or a hammer with a punch to depress the surface around the hole. Then you can use Bondo or use an epoxy filler that you cut off a roll or ribbon and knead together then fill the hole to the surface. Any that oozes into the hole will help keep it in place just as plaster oozing between lath strips keeps it on the wall. I have used this method when we removed some venetian blinds from a metal door. The patches have lasted 10 years without any problems.
Sand and paint. Just like doing body work on a car, or patching drywall. Fill the hole with the epoxy, Knock off the high spots with sand paper. then add a bit of autobody glazing putty and feather it, then paint.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.