Hey guys.. I have some water damage on the bottom of my door frame on the outside trim pieces, that has bled thru to the inside. I want to repair the siding piece on the outside, but I noticed that the "frame" piece that goes all around the door has rot too. It looks to me like this is some kind of kit that comes with all the pieces because the wood is connected with teeth on one side and grooves on the other to lock all the pieces together. My question is, do I need to buy a whole new kit? Is this a difficult job? I am handy just want to make sure I fix it right and stop all water from getting inside and ruining my new baseboards I put down in kitchen. I've already ripped all the inside trim pieces from around the door to replace those, just want to fix outside first. I have 2 pieces of 1x4" cedar to replace the outside trim pieces, but once I removed it I noticed rot deeper into the frame than I thought. Any advice is appreciated, i've included a pic of my problem area

 

I'm not sure I know what you mean 'as a kit' When the door was installed it was a prehung unit which means the door, jamb, casing and the threshold were all together and installed as a unit instead of individually. You will need to cut out the bad and replace. Ideally you'd replace entire pieces of wood but you can cut and replace just a portion. If you replace just a portion, the replacement piece should be coated with oil base primer [all 6 sides] and then use caulking as you install it so water won't get behind the joint.

 

yes, i guess what i meant by "as a kit" means it must have been a prehung unit. I originally had planned on replacing the entire pieces that were rotted, but after removal of the outside 1x4 siding piece I noticed the 1x3 piece I planned on replacing too, was actually connected to what appears to be a 1x6 that spans the entire opening (where the hinges are connected too aswell) ... So my plan of replacing that piece went out the door no pun intended. If you can see from the picture my door has a little bit of water damage/mold/soft spots is it more wise of me to just get another "prehung" door that will come with all new pieces? I just don't see how I can replace that 1x3 piece seperately because it attatches to the bigger 1x6 where the hinges connect to. Hopefully that makes sense sir

 

It certainly looks to me that it is a repair needed to an already repaired area of the door. There are several problems with repairs to the jambs of exterior doors.

1- you have to account for the fact that the door hinges and all of the forces to open and close the door are on that piece of lumber.

2- you need to account for the need to attach weather stripping to the patch.

3- buying an exterior door jamb section to cut and fill in is cost prohibative. The jambs come in kits only, so you have to buy the whole thing to get a 3" piece for patch. Multiple door companies make slightly different jamb profiles, so finding a match will also be tricky.

4- it will never be as strong as the original

5- it will always look like a patch.....

If you are looking to repair a patch of a previously repaired patch, I would seriously consider getting a new pre-hung unit. The standard utility entry doors are not that expensive. They are pre-hung and very DIY friendly. I would also address the issue of water by addition of a storm door which will prevent the water infiltration that is rotting the frames out in the first place. Doors can be ordered with rot resistant frames, see you local supply house for further details.

 

just out of curiousity how can you tell it's already been repaired? I had already removed the 1x4 on the outside if that's what your talking about. I put it back on once I saw I was in too deep for my knowledge at that point. To me it all looked original as there was no cut marks or anything like that before I started messing with it

 

It looks to me that there is a perfectly level cut line on the jamb around 2" to 3" up from the bottom. Of Course, I am only looking at a picture.

 

i see what your saying... im no expert but what im thinking is there is a "tooth" pattern where the boards connect it looks like the original door frame.. you can kind of see it in this picture right at the tip of the wood chisel..

 

I'm not seeing the 'tooth pattern' but I think what you are describing is a finger joint. It is common practice for manufactures to use small pieces of wood connected with glue and a finger joint [makes the joint more stable] to keep costs down. You see this all the time with interior paint grade trim.

 

it's hard to see from the pic... i had to zoom in on my browser to be able to see it on the post I posted. Im thinking I will just have to suck it up and buy a whole new prehung door... which kind of sucks because the one we like is $220