Fixing a Rotted Door Frame

A regular client called me to look at an exterior door that exited her basement.  I often say that 60% of my work is fixing improper installations, and this was a good example.  The drainage near this door was not really ideal, so lots of water was getting in, but even then, lots of other things were wrong, like wood touching concrete.  Anyway, long story short, the bottoms of the jambs were rotted out.  So one could ignore it and live with the inevitable results, or shell out 500-800 (or more) to replace the door, OR . . . Have Justin repair it.  here goes.

This pic doesn’t look so bad but   .  the bottom few inches of jamb was rotted away, plus the weatherstripping had curved inside.

So I started to remove the rotten wood, not knowing what I would find . . .

I got all the rot off, then I had to prep the area to accept a patch.

I had to drill into the concrete and I used PVC board for the patch, as it is totally waterproof, viola:

I had 8 feet of PVC board, so I used it to build up supporting structures between the concrete and the patch, so it is nice and super solid.  The other side of the jamb had similar problems, also fixed, so the client is now rot free and good to go for at least 10 years, maybe more, for a quarter of what a new door would have cost.