How to fix a hole in a door and bring it former look

Specifications of repair damages in wooden and metal doors. Recommendations on how to fix a hole in a door and restore a hollow door.

Damages of the interior doors happen quite often. To be prepared for such an eventuality we recommend arming with the knowledge on how to fix a hole in a door. This will give you confidence in the correct choice or can serve as an instruction for repair with your own hands.

If the hole is formed in a hollow door structure, it is likely you will have to repair a deep jag. To patch up the cavity, use volume filler. Low expansion foam is best suited for this purpose.

1. Irregularities on the top cover are cut off.
2. The inner space of the hole is filled with a wrapping paper (or any other material at hand, which could be fitted firmly in the design between the two walls of the door).
3. Fill the hole with foam. Keep foam spray strictly upside down (it will probably be written in the instructions, read them before using).
4. After hardening the foam is neatly cut off. It is important to protect it from external influence, so you need to apply a sealing layer of vulcanized rubber and paint over the mastic.
5. The layer of hardened mastic is covered with putty (ordinary or wood). After complete hardening of putty (12 hours is more than enough), you must sand it with fine sandpaper and coat with a layer of an appropriate shade of paint.

How to repair a hole in a door made of veneer or solid wood

If repair by means of the wax is not possible (damage in load-bearing part, too large punched hole, a part broken off and so on), it is required to carry out complex operations.

In order to seal the significant damage in veneer doors, it is necessary to patch a hole using the same veneer, or coat the entire door. After that, it is necessary to varnish whole the door again. Of course, such operations require a lot of time and cannot be cheap.

Veneer is glued as follows:

The surface where the veneer will be bonded should be smooth, without adhering sawdust, grains and so on. Irregularities are smoothed with putty and sanded.

Apply adhesive to both glued surfaces and let them dry.

When completely dried (in about 20 minutes), veneer is pasted on the door with the help of the iron (gently squeeze the dried glue surfaces to each other and smooth with hot iron) – the glue on surfaces will warm up and the connection will be strong.

The extra parts are cut off. Remove the adhesive residues with a damp cloth, otherwise it will be visible under the varnish.

Further, process the repaired spot with a fine sandpaper (120 grit at first, then you can use 600 grit) and remove dust. The surface is ready for coating with paint.

Large holes in doors made of solid wood are repaired by gluing of repair inserts made of the same species of wood, followed by painting and sanding as described above.

Repair of holes in metal doors

In case you’re not sure how to fix a hole in a door made of steel or metal, you should consider that the ways of repairing metal doors and wooden doors are alike. The main difference lies in the type of filler you apply. You will need to get bonding filler, which is intended for metal doors and frames, to carry out this job properly. Auto body fillers suit best for fixing metal doors as they are composed for adherence to metal surfaces. The wood filler is not applicable for this repair, in case you opt to it, you are risking to spend more time on repairing later on.

1. Sand the area all around the hole with course-grit sandpaper till you reach unsheathed metal. Remove paint using the edge of the sandpaper from dints and splits. Remove the dust occurred in the process of sanding with a vacuum (wet or dry).
2. Treat the rusty areas with liquid rust remover using hard or wire brush. Clean the metal surface using a degreasing detergent and a clean rug in order to ensure the adherence of the material to the metal.
3. Add the hardener to metal bonding filler and mix the compound. Apply it with a plastic putty knife, following the manufacturer’s recommendations.
4. Fill the hole and form a smooth layer of the solution using a putty knife. Overfill the hole a bit to make a slight mound. Then let the filler dry fully.
5. Use a course-grit sanding block to sand the patch. Clear the sanding dust off by a clean rug. Coat the recessed holes with another layer of filler and let them dry totally. Sand the area once more. Clean it from the sanding dust again.
6. Carry out one more sanding of the patch, using a medium-grit sanding block this time. Clear the surface from the sanding dust.
7. Cover the patched area with rust-inhibiting primer. Allow it dry completely, and then apply another coat.
8. Moisten a 400-grit sandpaper block and wrap a rubber sanding block in it. Sand the repaired area smooth. Let the metal dry totally.
9. Cover the patched area with two layers of rust-inhibiting paint.

Read more:

• How to paint a front door;
• How to paint an interior door.

Q&A

Why do damage and holes in doors occur so often?

Damage can occur due to impact, scratches, chemicals, UV radiation. The way out is to repair or replace. But buying a new door is not everyone can afford. Before proceeding to repair, establish the exact cause. They can be different: cracks, gaps, grouting, peeling coating, loose fixtures, rotting (typical for basements, cellars).

Is it difficult to fix the hole in the door yourself?

If the deepening of the hole is large, use installation foam: first foamed area, then a layer of putty is applied on top and mopped up. If the narrow hole is drilled to the right size, you can use dowels. Such a wooden product is hammered into the hole and the surface is sanded. To avoid gaps, a bar is selected that repeats the size of the leaf and is hammered onto the problem area.

How do I get the door back to its original appearance after I’ve managed to repair the hole myself?

You’re right, the last step is to restore the door to its former appearance. This is, in most cases, restoring the coating with varnish, paint, stain. Tinted putty is an excellent choice for a wooden door. It needs to be varnished. The mordant is popular: it deeply impregnates and permanently stains the wood. The use of laminate is used to veneer particleboard doors. Do not forget to coat the door leaf with a water repellent beforehand. Facing with veneer or film will allow you to get rid of minor defects. Instructions on how to repair doors, in which a hole was formed, and get rid of other defects, will help you to spend your leisure time usefully and save a significant amount of money. MDF door repair is a very interesting activity. Structurally, it consists of a frame on which the MDF sheets are glued. The frame is usually made of a wooden beam. The door is hollow on the inside, so it’s lightweight and not particularly strong.

Repairing an MDF door is no more difficult than fixing a “bug” on the body of your favorite car. Although the easiest thing to do, of course, is to buy a new one. But when finances sing the song of romance and there is simply not enough money for a new one, then folk wit comes to the rescue. The described methods of repair will undoubtedly help you save a considerable amount of money that you would have had to pay for a new one. When choosing the materials that you will use, you need to keep in mind that you should use those that are designed to work with wood, not metal products.