patching paneling door


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Old 02-16-05, 04:32 PM
JamesRI77
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patching paneling door

My tenant just had a hole made in her "bureau" that her father mader her, on of my other tenants kids did it. The part damaged is basically an indoor closet door, made of thin veneer wood. The hole is baseball size, and not all the way through. I am good at woodworking. I just need to know the best filler, and the best way to match an old stain.
Thanks.
James
 
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Old 02-16-05, 05:10 PM
C
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Probably the simplest way to match this hole in the veneer of the door would be to track down a damaged door from a building supply house and see about getting it cheap. You need only enough wood to repair the hole. Cut the damaged area out in a diamond or oval shape, exposing some of the cardboard webbing inside the door. Cut a patch to match the shape from the salvaged door. Check where you take the patch to see if it comes close to matching. Most luan doors are pretty close in appearance of the grain. Take some small scraps of plywood similar in thickness to what you removed and glue them under the surrounding area to support the patch. Once the wood glue has dried, about 30 minutes, glue the patch in place, place a piece of wax paper over the glued and patched area and apply a weight such as a brick to hold pressure evenly over the patch. I would wait at least one hour. Remove the weight and wax paper. Clean any residual glue with warm water and a coarse cloth until it is all removed. After this has dried, wipe the area with a cloth dampened with mineral spirits. Any remaining glue will show up as a light spot on the wood. If none is present, let dry, then sand 180 grit, stain, and finish.

Matching the stain will be some trial and error. You might take the door to the paint supply store and see what and how close a commercial stain might be. Then use a scrap from the salvaged door to experiment to get the stain the right color. Finish the stained scrap to see how it will look once complete.

Hope this helps.
 
  #3  
Old 02-16-05, 05:51 PM
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James,

Chfite did not explain how to glue the small scraps of plywood backer into the hole- here's one way to do it. If the hole is 3" wide, take a scrap of thin plywood or underlayment, that measures about 3" x 5", and put a screw through the middle of it. put wood glue on the top and bottom half, then use the screw as a handle, and insert the scrap into the hole, and hold the glued piece against the hole. This will need to dry thoroughly before attempting your patch repair.

If you haven't already considered it, perhaps you could figure out a way to remove the entire veneer (I assume it's 7/32" oak plywood?), and glue another in place. If that isn't possible, you might be able to fill the hole, as chfite described, but instead of trying to match the stain (which i've NEVER had good luck doing) maybe you could find some thin veneer at a woodworker's store (suitable for laminating), and just cover the entire side.

Its hard to picture exactly what you're dealing with, but if you're good with wood, you'll figure it out!
 

Last edited by XSleeper; 02-16-05 at 05:54 PM. Reason: editing
 

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