We have very old wooden doors on the exterior of our house. They are stained. A crack has developed in a raised panel, just enough to see light through, probably much less than a 16th of an inch. About 8-10 inches long. The crack is (currently) so narrow, I don't see how I could get any material very deep into it. I've considered 2 repair methods:
1) caulk with clear paintable caulk. Then check if you can still see it, and if required, then try to match the stain with a similar paint. But, it will be hard to get the caulk into the crack, and the paint matched to stain may not work out that well.
2) wood putty, then stain. But, I've never had much success getting wood putty into narrow cracks. And then it dries out and shrinks also.
Any other ideas about what I could do to make it weather tight, and look OK? I supposed I could squeeze something into the crack with a syringe, but what?
The crack formed because the wood shrunk, as a result of the wood losing moisture. Likely this may have been caused by the sun or air conditioning in the house, but something that changed recently to cause the wood to lose enough moisture to initiate the crack.
Can you determine anything that may have caused the wood to shrink (as this being an old door, should not have occurred unless something changed). Making that determination will help fix the problem and keep more cracks from showing up.
I would hesitate filling the crack with something (caulk, paint) that will prohibit the crack from shrinking when the wood swells back to its previous size.
Possibly the door was recently painted, forming a tight bond at the joint that should be there to allow the raised panels to shrink and swell as the wood loses and gains moisture (seasonal thing). Loosening this joint would be important if it has been closed with paint or whatever.
I neglected to say that these are very old doors installed in a brand new house. So they went from their original home in New Orleans, to some warehouses, to some guys workshop who supposedly reconditioned them, to my house with heat turned on. They've been through alot lately....
And they WERE recently stained and had a finish coat, but I would have expected the bond due to the finish to break loose before the wood broke in tension.
I'm really not sure why the raised panels are not floating like they should be to prevent a situation like this. They were reconditioned by someone who (I'm told) does this for a living, and I would have hoped would know to look for potential problems like this. Unfortunatley "returning" the doors at this point is not an option.
The friend who arranged this whole old wooden door thing has them in her house, and has not had any problems...
Anyway, I can see you point about getting to the root of the problem before I do a quick fix.
If mine, I would get them away from heat until I figured out how to get the panels loose so they can shrink without cracking. Otherwise, more cracks will show up and elevate the problem.
If you have any access to a molding that is close to the "sticking" on the RP door, you could cut the panel out and reglue the panel. Depending on the void, you could either work glue into it and clamp, or even cut it apart and reglue, and clamp. This is probably the most enduring fix.
Using a chisel (or a router and a chisel, or a circular saw and chisel), remove the sticking from one side of the door, and the panel is exposed. Remove it and reglue, then replace the panel and miter the moldings back in place. This would also solve any problem about the panel's not floating before...now it will.
Hank & beenthere,
Believe it or not, I hadn't thought of removing and regluing, which is pretty obvious now that you mention it. Since I had already paid someone perfectly good money to refurbish these doors, I guess I didn't consider trying anything that invasive. But for a long term solution, it looks like I should be loosening up all the raised panels, and regluing some (I see another starting to split).
Yes I can access the sticking, but it's an old door in old-door-condition, so it will be delicate to not break anything.
<font color="purple"> Yes I can access the sticking </font color>
I wasn't real clear, I think. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] It may be that the panels were set into a rabbet, with mitered moldings holding it in place. If so, you're lucky. More likely, the panel was inserted into a groove as the door was assembled, and you will destroy the sticking on one side getting the panel out, since the sticking is actually part of the door stiles and rails. So...you would need access to a replacement molding that resembles the original sticking, and miter that back in when you replace the panel (into what is now a rabbeted area).
Hank,
In spite of misunderstooding you the first time.... I think I am still in luck. At least on the door in question, the panel does not appear to be floating inside a groove, but appears to be set into a rabbet, and then trimmed around on the inside. Not your standard raised panel method. Unfortunely, the moldings are a little worse for the wear, and it will still be tough to remove without damaging them.
Before I go tearing anything apart, I have a call into the people who may know more about the history of what was done to refurbish the door. I'm a little worried that someone used glue to hold the panel in during the refurbishing process.
I'm hesitant to replace any trim. I have the tools to make up replacement trim from a matching wood (cypress), but I'd like to keep the door original, since its over 100 yrs old. We got them relatively cheap, so I suppose some issues are to be expected.
I'll try to remember to take some pics, that would really help.
Thanks for all you input so far, I notice that you always have good input for woodworking topics.
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