repairing hinge rebate advice

[janner89]

Hi all,

Need to hang a new internal door into an existing frame. The previous hinge rebates in the jamb are damaged (see pictures). Bit unsure of best way of proceeding - cut new hinge locations and fill and paint over existing or try and repair using filler and re-use existing hinge rebates? I was thinking of filling the large screw holes with repair care dry flex, which although expensive, would re-take a screw i believe. Any advice greatly appreciated, cheers!

 

[Fitzroy]

I'm not sure if it's the fight approach but I have repaired a few in our house by, drilling out the old screw holes and gluing in some tight fitting plugs (not dowels as the grain is the wrong orientation). Chopping the existing rebate true and square, and gluing in a new piece of timber using a brace across the frame to provide glue pressure. Then starting a fresh chopping a new rebate and rehanging the door. This is where things were completely beyond saving. I've also done some just drilling out the holes and hammering/gluing a dowel into them, then drilling a pilot hole to try and avoid having the screw follow the edge between dowel and old wood. I don't think I'd trust a filler.

 

[recipio]

You may be overthinking it. Moving hinge positions always looks a bit odd. I would simply fill the holes with dowels and having cleaned up the rebate, use a thin 3 - 4 mm piece of ply glued in. You can use a thin lathe as a clamp sprung from the opposite side of the frame.

 

[janner89]

You may be overthinking it. Moving hinge positions always looks a bit odd. I would simply fill the holes with dowels and having cleaned up the rebate, use a thin 3 - 4 mm piece of ply glued in. You can use a thin lathe as a clamp sprung from the opposite side of the frame.

yes this seems the most sensible/simplest way. as in you would plug the holes with a dowel, clean up and then glue in a piece of ply to run in flush with the rest of the jamb, then re-cut the hinge mortice entirely? cheers

 

[deema]

I would rebate out a pocket that’s as large as the damaged area and insert and glue a new piece of wood: drill out and plug the existing screw holes before hand as you don’t rebate the pocket too deeply. You can then cut new hinge pockets

 

[Agent_zed]

Looks like an old building so might have lead paint. So if you are going to be sanding anything back etc wear a decent mask and try and collect as much dust as poss. The top layers of paint are probably ok it will just be when/if you get to the older ones.

 

[Doug71]

I often use MR MDF to fill old hinge mortices etc, it's easy to plane level with the old frame and is easy to chisel out for the new hinges as it comes away in layers. Once I have cleaned out the old mortises I just glue the MDF in with mitre fix.

 

[niall Y]

I would, as the others have said, plug the existing holes, by gluing in pine dowels/rods, before trimming them flush . Nothing sophisticated here , just cut some square rods from scrap pine , and shape them with a knife before gluing and hammering then in position.

When filling the recess, first prepare a slightly over thick, wide and longer infill piece. This is then held in position against the stop, with the top and bottom knifed to mark the extent of the rebate, which is then neatly chiselled out.
In the past, I would glue and temporarily pin these, before removing the partly hammered home pins - now, some Mitre-mate speeds up the whole process. Clean up with a small block plane , or abrasive paper, before marking and re-cutting the hinge rebates.

 

[recipio]

yes this seems the most sensible/simplest way. as in you would plug the holes with a dowel, clean up and then glue in a piece of ply to run in flush with the rest of the jamb, then re-cut the hinge mortice entirely? cheers

Well, the ply should fill the rebate but allow room for the hinge to sit flush with the frame. No point making work by using ply that is too thick. It will take new screws nicely as it won't split when drilling.

 

[MARK.B.]

All good advice above, I would add that when plugging the existing holes be careful that you do not split the frame.