Exterior French Doors trouble

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tim54331

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I bought my house about 4 years ago and replaced the sliding glass doors leading to the back deck with french doors. The problem I'm having is the bottom 3 inches of the door on the hinge sides are starting to root and have black mildew/mold. The step down to the deck is only about 2 inches and also there is no over hang covering it. We get a lot of rain also. Which is causing more problems do you think? Also no gutters. Thanks
 
Tim welcome to the site. These doors are a problem especially when they open out Water splashing up off the deck or snow piling up on the deck dosn't help. The slider was a better deal for your house. Why no gutters? Can you post a photo of that side of the house and maybe you will get some suggestions.
 
Thanks for the response. The doors do open inward but that still leaves it very exposed. The house is 30 something years old and by the look of things the sliding doors were original. They had a lot of air coming in around them and were worn out. Water was actually sitting in the bottom track and causing the stud to rot and sheet rock damage inside.
 
You might try putting in lag screws from underneath till you get to solid wood, with the exposed screw shafts providing anchors for a non-rotting material like epoxy or Bondo.
Make a form out of heavy cardboard so the filler material takes on the same shape and size as the original wood, then finish sand the patch so the transition between old and new is not noticeable.
 
You need to control the water first. You can deal with mildew and other stuff later but until the moisture is stopped the doors are doomed.

Gutters essential. You might also add a rain diverter to further reduce runoff the roof that might overwhelm the gutters. I have done this in spot locations and it works. If you get snow, this might not be a solution because it would backup the snow load on your roof.

http://www.todayshomeowner.com/video/how-to-install-a-rain-diverter/

This video shows an angled application ...

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,1630881,00.html
 
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