After taking off the architrave of our external front door, I noticed that the frame is damaged around where the lock keep is. The damage has been partially filled, but I'm not confident in the strength of the repair, it looks like it would give way very easily if someone tried to break in. What would be a good way of fixing this to improve the strength and security of the door frame?
Front Door Frame Repair
- Thread starter triz
- Start date
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D
Deleted member 174758
Maybe a bit "industrial" but you might want to consider a "Birmingham bar" down that side of the frame. On door frames with an architrave these can be hidden to an extent by fixing to the frame and chiselling out the back of the architrave to form a pocket, then reattaching the architrave
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That's a great suggestion, thank you! I wonder if it would still be worth trying to fix the frame before attaching one of those bars, just to provide a bit more strength. Perhaps I should cut out the damaged area, and replace with a section of fresh timber? What kind of joint would be used to make it strong against being kicked in?
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Deleted member 174758
Yes. If you can splice-in all very well and good, but just beware of weakening the frame even more
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I'm thinking of using two half-lap joints to insert the new piece of frame, secured with four screws in the overlapping sections. Do you think this would be sufficiently strong enough?
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Deleted member 174758
Done well with tightish joints and a good exterior (D4 PVA) glue then possibly, but it will still be weaker than the original one-piece frame leg, so I reckon your splice will need be long enough to allow for a couple of frame fixings or the like to be put into the masonry behind and I'd certainly put a Birmingham bar up the back of that leg (with loads of screws) to further strengthen it
Can you recommend a strong softwood to use for the splice? I picked up some planed redwood from Travis Perkins to practice my splice joints, but am not convinced it's strong enough for the job.
D
Deleted member 174758
That's about it. Redwood is normally a bit stronger than whitewood and the original door frame would either be that or possibly something like Quebec yellow pine, which they stopped importing between the wars (coz' it had been felled to near extinction)
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Deleted member 174758
Carcassing is often whitewood. The structural grading is there so that loadings for joists and beams can be accurately assessed. Redwood in the same sizes would undoubtedly give a higher loading, but is rarely available in large enough sections at long enough lengths for structural use - plus it's somewhat more expensive. Much whitewood is awfully stringy, fast grown carp and it rarely finishes well..... which is why they use it for carcassing where it won't be seen! Really and truly, the redwood you've obtained is the right material for the job - but like any repair of this nature it'll need appropriate masonry fixings and a Birmingham bar to beef things up because a repaired frame is rarely as strong as it originally was
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