Apologies in advance for putting a home repair question in this
political round table. :^/

Now that I am driving to and from work in daylight again, I noticed a
problem on the bottom panel of my hardboard-skinned (with fake
woodgrain) Dalton garage door. On one end, where it meets the stop
strip, water or bugs or animals have been chewing away at the stop strip
and door surface, like giant rats were trying to get into my garage. The
stop strip, I can replace pretty easily. But there is a triangle-shaped
section of the door panel surface layer where the top layer with the
fake woodgrain is actually gone- it isn't through to the insulation
layer, but the surface that is now exposed is beyond merely touching up
with paint.

Any ideas on a cheap painless fix? Aside from this one chewed-on spot,
the door is in pretty decent condition, and works well. Epoxy wood fill
slathered on? Bondo? A big piece of aluminum tape? I need to do
something before it gets much worse, since a new door would not pay for
itself at resale. I presume I need to wait for several dry sunny days in
a row, so it is all dried out, before I attempt any repair?

--
aem sends...

"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
Apologies in advance for putting a home repair question in this political
round table. :^/

Now that I am driving to and from work in daylight again, I noticed a
problem on the bottom panel of my hardboard-skinned (with fake woodgrain)
Dalton garage door. On one end, where it meets the stop strip, water or
bugs or animals have been chewing away at the stop strip and door surface,
like giant rats were trying to get into my garage. The stop strip, I can
replace pretty easily. But there is a triangle-shaped section of the door
panel surface layer where the top layer with the fake woodgrain is
actually gone- it isn't through to the insulation layer, but the surface
that is now exposed is beyond merely touching up with paint.

Any ideas on a cheap painless fix? Aside from this one chewed-on spot, the
door is in pretty decent condition, and works well. Epoxy wood fill
slathered on? Bondo? A big piece of aluminum tape? I need to do something
before it gets much worse, since a new door would not pay for itself at
resale. I presume I need to wait for several dry sunny days in a row, so
it is all dried out, before I attempt any repair?

--
aem sends

The policitcal hacks will have to bear with you on this one.

What is the door made from?

I have done some amazing to me repairs using bondo. If one takes the time
to carve and shape it after curing you can do about anything. I have done
this on both Aluminum siding and several different forms of wood. Doors,
windows, window sills and shashes, baseboard and aluminim siding they all
seem to turn out well if you spend a little time with the prep.

If the edge is gone use a paint stick or other control to get the straight
edge, you can round it off later with a palm sander.

I have never used epoxy wood fill. I suspect the wood grain would be hard
to carve in after the repair.


--
Colbyt
Please come visit http://www.househomerepair.com

On 5/7/2011 7:13 PM, Colbyt wrote:
wrote in message
(snip)
--
aem sends

The policitcal hacks will have to bear with you on this one.

What is the door made from?


Door appears to be wood frame, presumably with foam in middle, with
(what I call) Masonite faces, smooth on inside and wood-grain texture on
outside. Idiot previous owner never finished the inside face, so it is
stained from the water that runs through cracks when you open the door.
Outside has at least 3 coats of paint- factory, previous owner, and the
'college pro' half-ass paint job I foolishly paid for (on entire house)
3 years ago.

aem sends....

On May 7, 8:28*pm, aemeijers wrote:
On 5/7/2011 7:13 PM, Colbyt wrote:

*wrote in message
(snip)
--
aem sends

The policitcal hacks will have to bear with you on this one. *

What is the door made from?

Door appears to be wood frame, presumably with foam in middle, with
(what I call) Masonite faces, smooth on inside and wood-grain texture on
outside. Idiot previous owner never finished the inside face, so it is
stained from the water that runs through cracks when you open the door.
Outside has at least 3 coats of paint- factory, previous owner, and the
'college pro' half-ass paint job I foolishly paid for (on entire house)
3 years ago.

aem sends....

Are the wood grain structure inserts painted, or wood-colored? I like
bondo myself.

On Sat, 07 May 2011 17:45:49 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

Apologies in advance for putting a home repair question in this
political round table. :^/

Now that I am driving to and from work in daylight again, I noticed a
problem on the bottom panel of my hardboard-skinned (with fake
woodgrain) Dalton garage door. On one end, where it meets the stop
strip, water or bugs or animals have been chewing away at the stop strip
and door surface, like giant rats were trying to get into my garage. The
stop strip, I can replace pretty easily. But there is a triangle-shaped
section of the door panel surface layer where the top layer with the
fake woodgrain is actually gone- it isn't through to the insulation
layer, but the surface that is now exposed is beyond merely touching up
with paint.

Any ideas on a cheap painless fix?

Paint a square a desireable color and attach it over the damaged
portion, and attach 3 other squares up down and diagonally from the
first.

Or paint a square to look like a big mouse hole or atomic explosiion
or the entrance to Wonderland and glue that over the damaged area.

Aside from this one chewed-on spot,
the door is in pretty decent condition, and works well. Epoxy wood fill
slathered on? Bondo? A big piece of aluminum tape? I need to do
something before it gets much worse, since a new door would not pay for
itself at resale. I presume I need to wait for several dry sunny days in
a row, so it is all dried out, before I attempt any repair?

On 5/8/2011 1:12 AM, hr(bob) wrote:
On May 7, 8:28 pm, wrote:
On 5/7/2011 7:13 PM, Colbyt wrote:

wrote in message
(snip)
--
aem sends

The policitcal hacks will have to bear with you on this one.

What is the door made from?

Door appears to be wood frame, presumably with foam in middle, with
(what I call) Masonite faces, smooth on inside and wood-grain texture on
outside. Idiot previous owner never finished the inside face, so it is
stained from the water that runs through cracks when you open the door.
Outside has at least 3 coats of paint- factory, previous owner, and the
'college pro' half-ass paint job I foolishly paid for (on entire house)
3 years ago.

aem sends....

Are the wood grain structure inserts painted, or wood-colored? I like
bondo myself.

Painted, but they aren't inserts. It is more like an interior
hollow-core door. The frame of each panel is not visible from street
when door is closed- the faux woodgrain sheet of masonite covers the
whole surface of the panel on both sides.

--
aem sends...

"Colbyt" wrote in
:


"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
Apologies in advance for putting a home repair question in this
political round table. :^/

Now that I am driving to and from work in daylight again, I noticed a
problem on the bottom panel of my hardboard-skinned (with fake
woodgrain) Dalton garage door. On one end, where it meets the stop
strip, water or bugs or animals have been chewing away at the stop
strip and door surface, like giant rats were trying to get into my
garage. The stop strip, I can replace pretty easily. But there is a
triangle-shaped section of the door panel surface layer where the top
layer with the fake woodgrain is actually gone- it isn't through to
the insulation layer, but the surface that is now exposed is beyond
merely touching up with paint.

Any ideas on a cheap painless fix? Aside from this one chewed-on
spot, the door is in pretty decent condition, and works well. Epoxy
wood fill slathered on? Bondo? A big piece of aluminum tape? I need
to do something before it gets much worse, since a new door would not
pay for itself at resale. I presume I need to wait for several dry
sunny days in a row, so it is all dried out, before I attempt any
repair?

--
aem sends

The policitcal hacks will have to bear with you on this one.

What is the door made from?

I have done some amazing to me repairs using bondo. If one takes the
time to carve and shape it after curing you can do about anything. I
have done this on both Aluminum siding and several different forms of
wood. Doors, windows, window sills and shashes, baseboard and aluminim
siding they all seem to turn out well if you spend a little time with
the prep.

If the edge is gone use a paint stick or other control to get the
straight edge, you can round it off later with a palm sander.

I have never used epoxy wood fill. I suspect the wood grain would be
hard to carve in after the repair.



the woodworking stores used to have a rubber stamp for putting "wood grain"
into finishes.they might stil carry it.
It probably won't match what he already has on the garage door.

If using Bondo,I'd form some window screening mesh to fit the large missing
areas to provide reinforcement(or add chopped glass fiber),since Bondo is
only supposed to be used in THIN layers.



--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

On 5/8/2011 3:34 PM, Jim Yanik wrote:
wrote in
(snip)
the woodworking stores used to have a rubber stamp for putting "wood grain"
into finishes.they might stil carry it.
It probably won't match what he already has on the garage door.

If using Bondo,I'd form some window screening mesh to fit the large missing
areas to provide reinforcement(or add chopped glass fiber),since Bondo is
only supposed to be used in THIN layers.



I only have a thin layer missing- 1/16 to 1/8 at most. That is what I
have been scratching my head over- how to get such a thin layer of bondo
to stick well to the exposed fibrous substrate. Afraid that with the
first thermal cycling or hard bump, the whole patch would fall off with
some fuzz sticking to the back of it. No room for screen or screwheads.
Afraid staple-gun staples would be instant rust magnets. Maybe some tiny
holes through the masonite, so the bondo keys in like an old plaster
job? Sit there with the cordless drill and a 1/4 bit, and make a matrix
of holes down into the frame and foam layer, englishing the bit to make
the holes bigger on the bottom?

Not worried about it looking perfect- this is a 50 year old house, and
32 year old garage addition. Just want it to not look horrible. Once
bondo hardens, I can scratch it up enough with sur-form and a
screwdriver, so it doesn't stand out so much from the faux woodgrain.

--
aem sends...

"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
On 5/8/2011 3:34 PM, Jim Yanik wrote:
wrote in
(snip)
the woodworking stores used to have a rubber stamp for putting "wood
grain"
into finishes.they might stil carry it.
It probably won't match what he already has on the garage door.

If using Bondo,I'd form some window screening mesh to fit the large
missing
areas to provide reinforcement(or add chopped glass fiber),since Bondo is
only supposed to be used in THIN layers.



I only have a thin layer missing- 1/16 to 1/8 at most. That is what I have
been scratching my head over- how to get such a thin layer of bondo to
stick well to the exposed fibrous substrate. Afraid that with the first
thermal cycling or hard bump, the whole patch would fall off with some
fuzz sticking to the back of it. No room for screen or screwheads. Afraid
staple-gun staples would be instant rust magnets. Maybe some tiny holes
through the masonite, so the bondo keys in like an old plaster job? Sit
there with the cordless drill and a 1/4 bit, and make a matrix of holes
down into the frame and foam layer, englishing the bit to make the holes
bigger on the bottom?

Not worried about it looking perfect- this is a 50 year old house, and 32
year old garage addition. Just want it to not look horrible. Once bondo
hardens, I can scratch it up enough with sur-form and a screwdriver, so it
doesn't stand out so much from the faux woodgrain.

--
aem sends...


If you start with a clean dry surface I don't think you will have any
problems with the Bondo failing.

I have some well painted exterior repairs that are fast approaching the 10
year mark. Some of those were at little as 1/32" and others were far thicker
than recommended. Most but not all were sealed with the West epoxy system
before the Bondo was applied. It is expensive but much less than a new door
or panel.



Colbyt

"Colbyt" wrote in
m:


"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
On 5/8/2011 3:34 PM, Jim Yanik wrote:
wrote in
(snip)
the woodworking stores used to have a rubber stamp for putting "wood
grain"
into finishes.they might stil carry it.
It probably won't match what he already has on the garage door.

If using Bondo,I'd form some window screening mesh to fit the large
missing
areas to provide reinforcement(or add chopped glass fiber),since
Bondo is only supposed to be used in THIN layers.



I only have a thin layer missing- 1/16 to 1/8 at most. That is what I
have been scratching my head over- how to get such a thin layer of
bondo to stick well to the exposed fibrous substrate. Afraid that
with the first thermal cycling or hard bump, the whole patch would
fall off with some fuzz sticking to the back of it. No room for
screen or screwheads. Afraid staple-gun staples would be instant rust
magnets. Maybe some tiny holes through the masonite, so the bondo
keys in like an old plaster job? Sit there with the cordless drill
and a 1/4 bit, and make a matrix of holes down into the frame and
foam layer, englishing the bit to make the holes bigger on the
bottom?

Not worried about it looking perfect- this is a 50 year old house,
and 32 year old garage addition. Just want it to not look horrible.
Once bondo hardens, I can scratch it up enough with sur-form and a
screwdriver, so it doesn't stand out so much from the faux woodgrain.

--
aem sends...


If you start with a clean dry surface I don't think you will have any
problems with the Bondo failing.

I agree;
a fibrous or rough surface is great for Bondo adhesion,and a thin layer of
Bondo is desirable. Bondo fails most when it's laid on too thick,and the
different thermal expansion rates of bondo and metal bodywork.

I was thinking of filling in large missing chunks and edging when I
suggested the screening or chopped glass fibers.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com


I have some well painted exterior repairs that are fast approaching
the 10 year mark. Some of those were at little as 1/32" and others
were far thicker than recommended. Most but not all were sealed with
the West epoxy system before the Bondo was applied. It is expensive
but much less than a new door or panel.



Colbyt