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2018 National Home Improvement Estimator, All Rights Reserved Page 178

You’ll have to paint this type of repair. It won’t take a stain. However, once the door is painted, the repair
will be completely invisible. Don’t try to bore or drill through the body filler to install a lockset. It’s likely
to break loose. Bore for a new lockset either above or below the repair, never in exactly the same place.

If you have to install the lock at the same height, turn the door around (outside to inside) so the hinge
edge becomes the lock edge and vice versa. Since the hinge edge has never been bored for a lock,
you’ll have clean wood to work with. The problem, of course, is that the hinge edge has been mortised
for hinges. Fill the old hinge mortise cuts with body filler and make new mortise cuts for hinges on the
other edge. This adds about a half hour to the task.

Body filler comes in handy when replacing a mortise lock with a modern cylinder lockset. You can buy
a lock conversion kit for this. The kit includes an escutcheon plate that fastens over and covers the old
mortise hole. The new cylinder lockset mounts in the plate. Unfortunately, these plates aren’t very
strong and don’t offer much protection against forced entry. Although it’s more work to plug the mortise
void with body filler and bore for a new circular lockset, the finished product is stronger and far more
attractive.

Figure 9-2 shows a door repaired with Bondo after it was kicked in. The old mortise lock burst out,
leaving a huge, ragged hole. Figure 9-3 shows the same door, flipped inside to out, painted, and hung
with new hinges and lockset. The complete job, including repair, painting, and hanging, took
approximately four hours and cost about $20, not including the lock.

Rebuilding an Entry Door
Most wood doors are assembled from panels. Figure 9-4 shows an exploded view of door panels. The
top and bottom rails are each one piece, and each side is one panel. Each divider between panels is a
single piece. The more panels a door has, the more pieces there are. All these pieces are held together
with glue. Weather and moisture cause the glue to deteriorate, usually along the lower half of the door.

If an entry door is coming apart but is otherwise worthy of repair, you’ll have to disassemble the door
and rebuild it. Estimate the time required at about six hours for most doors. The door will be off the
hinges for a day or two, so you’ll need to board up the opening.

Rebuilding a door with bad joints is a lot like repairing an old piece of furniture that has come unglued.
First, take it completely apart. Pry the joints apart carefully, working from the edges to minimize tool
marks on the more visible door parts. Most joints will come apart easily. All joints have small,
interlocking pieces that are glued together. Try not to break these joints. If a joint can’t be pried apart
easily, look for small nails driven into the joint at right angles. Remove these nails very carefully to avoid
damaging the joint.