Holes in the front door sill

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Dee_M

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My front door has a wooden sill which is rotting. I will eventually replace the door,which includes two side windows, but that is not financially feasible at this time. The holes in the sill are about an inch and a half deep, and the same wide. I fixed them last year with a wood filler. (Funny story on how I found that stuff) I filled the holes, sanded, primed and painted the sill. (I was quite proud of my efforts!) Unfortunately, that only lasted until spring when the paint peeled off, the fill cracked and came out, and the holes now appear to be deeper and wider. I was told that I need to prepare the holes first with primer. I could sure use some step by step instructions.
 
Hi Dee,
Unfortunately it is hard to stop something that has started to rot, wooden sill are very hard to fix where they hold up for long period of time. The most you will get out of any fix on your sill is about 2 years as where you fix the surrounding area keeps rotting. Believe me or not but try car bondo, it will hod longer than wood filler and will not soak up the water but the surrounding will so you may try and prime hole after you clean out as much of the rotten stuff that you can and try the bondo. The good thing is, that most new doors now have a composite sill so that you shouldn't have this problem when you put your new door with sidelights in. Good Luck

Joe~~
 
The only way to fix this correctly is to replace the sill. As long as you keep filling the holes, they will pop out the next time you have a major change of seasons. There is one product I would try if I was just trying to get by until next summer. That would be Dap floor patch. It comes in about a quart tub. It's premixed and it sets much like concrete when it cures. Make sure the wood is very dry when you apply this. This is temporary though and it will come out again
 
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