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I have a three-season sun porch off the back of the house. When the dog was younger and out there, he just chewed the heck out of the door frame. There's a framing piece, perpendicular to the face of the door, that has a gap where weatherstripping slots in, and that's been destroyed/chewed off to right about the door handle. From inside, you can see daylight between the door and frame. In winter, there's just cold air rushing in, and of course it looks terrible.

Is there an option besides completely replacing the door and frame with a new pre-hung door?

It's more a problem of stock/availability during Covid than cost, I just can't seem to find the same type of door in stock or shipped before spring. I've had to repair chewed interior door frames, but this seems like a bigger problem, or I'm just not seeing how to go about it.

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  • can you take pictures from further away?
    – DMoore
    Feb 11, 2021 at 5:04
  • How wide is your door? I cannot see how this is a stock issue. I JUST - 1 month ago - bought basically this same exterior door for the back of a house I just did. I got it from big orange and they had literally 10 doors at this store in each of the 3 main sizes both left and right inswing. This is literally the most common type of door you can find - unless you are looking for a specific manufacturer. But you can make the window like yours or smaller and include blinds inside glass or not.
    – DMoore
    Feb 12, 2021 at 18:27

4 Answers 4

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That jamb is too far gone to be trying to fix it with a dremel, IMHO. You can buy new replacement jambs and just replace that side for not much money.

Have you tried salvage yards, used building material stores to find a match?

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  • I would suggest measuring the door, then pop over to the local home improvement big-box store where they sell door jamb kits in all the standard sizes (80"x32" & 80"x36"). It looks like this is the strike plate side (appears to be a knob right at the very top edge of the picture), so that makes it easier to replace. Just replace the one side of the jamb and be done with it, or, pull the whole door & replace the whole jamb with the parts from the new kit.
    – FreeMan
    Feb 11, 2021 at 12:45
  • The only reason I suggested a Dremel is didn't know how much repair the OP wanted, nor their skills at replacing the entire jam assembly. So I thought....hmmm, maybe just cut out the damaged part, cut a new board to fit, caulk and paint would be the easiest. Clearly a full replacement is best, but not always within the capabilities of everyone. Thanks for the comment.
    – George Anderson
    Feb 11, 2021 at 15:08
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Well you have three options:

  • You buy replacement jam. $20. You have to take the door out, all of the trim out except opposite side, you have to cut the jam to fit, you have to "level" the jam and shim it out, if it is a different thickness this could be a bit of work. You then have to precisely chisel out both of the door strikes. If done wrong it will look like a little kid manufactured your door - or it could make the door not lock right which would be very unsafe. You then have to reapply weathsripping, install the trim pieces, replace the trim piece that was chewed. When replacing the one that is chewed you either find a match, create a match (which might take some time), or just live with a piece of trim that looks out of place. If someone showed me that picture my guys would quote them $150 to make it functional $300 to make it look newish. (price not including materials)

  • Buy a new door. For your type of door you are looking at 275ish maybe 75 for install. (you have to paint it).

  • Get really really really lucky and go to a salvage materials place and find a door jamb with the exact same specifications as yours - with deadbolt and regular strike at the EXACT right distance. If you like to shop for things like this for fun you may eventually find it after months of looking.

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I'd use a tool like the Dremel oscillating cutter like this, but obviously with a different blade (many different blades are available), cut out the damaged bits as cleanly as possible and then nail or glue in a board to replace the part cut out. Caulk and paint and you should be good to go.

Dremel

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It looks like the frame is made out of three pieces of wood nailed together. it should be possible to just remove and replace the three pieces that make up the damaged side.

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