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I want to repair cedar screen doors which have rotted at the bottom corners following weather exposure (and inattention by me). I would like to replace the horizontal piece of timber between floor level and the bottom of the flyscreen. This would involve cutting off the rotted section of the damaged vertical timbers and attaching a new piece across the full width of the door. This will weaken the structure of the door, but my hope is that this could be managed sufficiently by screwing a rigid vertical metal strip across the join between the existing vertical timber and the new piece at the bottom. The repair would be visible but not too ugly if done neatly. The only alternative seems to be spending 1000s on new doors. The doors are not prominent - at the end of a south-facing deck and used only occasionally during warmer months.
Advice or suggestions on ways to deal with this issue and on the practicality of my current plan would be appreciated.
Hi @joeth
The way I have addressed similar issues is to basically do what you're suggesting a cut just above the rotted section right across the width of the doors. Then apply along the bottom the Earle Wood Hardener as @JacobZ suggested. I would reattach the new sections of timber with decent quality wood glue and simply screw them in with countersunk wood screws.
Where I think the rot has been able to form is because it appears the bottom of the doors are virtually touch the sill, which means water can be trapped between for some time before evaporating. So, I would allow at least a 5mm gap between the bottom of there door and sill. Then consider one of the Raven weather strip products to prevent and drafts or rain water.
Regards, Nailbag
I guess with what ever method you use to replace the rotted sections is going to be an obvious one since the doors are stained and not painted
Hi @joeth,
It would likely be best to use screws twice the length of the section you'll be attaching. So, if you intend to graft on a 30mm section at the bottom, you'll need screws 60mm long. Remember to use glue and sink a screw through the section up into the uprights and then several across the door span.
If you were to use brackets between the two sections, these mending plates or corner braces wouldn't look bad, especially if you coated them with gold/brass spray paint.
Mitchell
Thanks for further tips Nailbag, Mitchell and Dave.
Sorry that I haven't made it clear enough that I want to replace the bottom boards completely on each door. (I said full width when I should have said full height...?) The expansion below of my earlier photo (right side only) indicates my intended cutting points. You can see more clearly the previous patch inserted on that door to replace a rotted area in the horizontal board (which would make attaching a new piece below it more difficult), and also the vertical extent of the rot on the right corner.
My uncertainty about being able to make a strong enough bond between the verticals and the new horizontal bottom board is why I have been thinking about rigid reinforcement across the join - probably metal (although I could also use timber) with at least two screws either side of the join. I have done something similar in the past to reinforce the legs on an old table - see second photo.
Any further thoughts on the best way to make the join between the new board and the sawn-off verticals in this approach, or on a better approach, would be much appreciated. Jacob suggested a biscuit joiner which I have never used but could hire for the purpose, but worry that the joins might still be too flimsy given that the bottom board of the door is the most likely to be knocked at some point.
