How to repair a hole in this hollow internal door?

[beebee]

 

 Could someone please suggest the best way for me to repair this whole in the door. I would rather not replace the entire door if I can avoid it.

Community manager's note: Check out How to repair a hole in an internal door for expert advice.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @beebee,

You might like to have a read of this discussion: How to fill holes and gouge in my door by @vica. Several of our knowledgeable members offer some excellent advice to @newfast on how to repair their damaged door.

How solid is the damaged area? You could either try to fill the area with Builder's Bog as is or remove the two broken sections of door skin and fill over the internal cardboard honeycomb. My preference would be to dig the broken sections of door skin out and then fill the area. The reason for removing the door skin pieces is that it will then give you some defined edges to bog up to and then sand back flush with.

Once you've filled the area with bog and then sanded it back so it is flush with the surrounding surface, you'll need to prime and then paint the door. You'll achieve a far better result if you paint the whole door instead of trying to paint the patched area.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[MikeTNZ]

Hi @MitchellMc,

I'd be more inclined to go with your advice of digging out the surface material for two reasons, you'll get more filler in there for a start and if you can get in behind the surface of the door skin, there is a better chance of it "keying" into the edges around where the damage has occurred, if the filler is pressed in well.

I did this same thing with one of my doors last year, where a strong wind caused the door to be impaled on a broom handle and went right through the door.

You wouldn't even notice it had happened now.

It is very good advice about painting the whole door though, you can never get the colours to match, if you just do a bit of it.

The sun is not kind to paint, no matter where it is in a house.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[curlyfox]

Hi . I have same issue. Thanks for the information as I was initially going to leave the punched in pieces and big over them. One silly question, because I have to paint the whole door (recently painted in semi gloss 🥹) I need to lightly sand whole door before primer correct? 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @curlyfox. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about repairing a door.

It would be best to give the semi-gloss paint a slight sand just to remove any obvious gloss level to it prior to priming. Primers and paint don't like gloss surfaces, which are hard to bind to. You also might like to check out Dulux 1L PRECISION White Maximum Strength Adhesion Primer, as it's specifically designed for glossy surfaces. However, it is recommended to still give the gloss a light sanding.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[curlyfox]

Thanks your reply. One more question, is it better to cut away the loose bits leaving just an open hole so the builders big adheres or go over it as is? There are conflicting views online. 

[EricL]

Hello @curlyfox 

Just to add to the suggestions made, if it looks like you can glue the damaged parts back on to the door, I propose keeping them on. This would mean that you would be using less bog. However, if the broken pieces are ready to fall off, it would be better to remove them and just fill the cavity with bog.

My best advice is to not use too much activator to prevent the bog from hardening too fast. Your goal is to have enough time to flatten the bog to the same height as the door. This will save you from having to spend too much time sanding the bog down. 

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric