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friend of ours is asking for some help concerning their front door frame and rot that has occurred over time due to moisture.As you can see the damage is pretty bad and it penetrates from the outside of the door all the way through to the inside molding. Obviously this door frame and maybe some of the house framing behind it will need to be replaced but they also want to prevent this from happening in the future.
This is a pretty common issue with homes. Door Frames will rot from moisture and even summer temperatures can also have an effect. In addition door rot like this can invite pests. If you are lucky it might just be a common ant or other insect but it could also attract carpenter ants, termites and other pests that you really don’t want making a home inside your home.
It is important to take care of these issues when you first notice them because if you act early it may just mean replacing a piece of molding and a little painting. At this point you can see that the damage has gone from the outside of the home all the way though the door frame and moldings and it is about a good foot high on the frame.
Although Door Frames are not extremely structural parts of your home like a center post beam it does support the door. Behind the door frame is also a stud and that is a part of your home’s structure. If you allow a problem like this to happen for too long you can cause rot into the studs, bottom plate of the wall, rim joist, floor joists and floor decking. Its not just ugly it is a problem to keep on top of and repair when it happens.
What Is The Cause Of Door Frame Rot?
As we said normally it has to do with moisture in the immediate area. If you look closely you can see that someone decided to install bricks on top of this persons front concrete slab stoop. They probably thought it would be attractive and decorative because the rest of the home has brick siding.
Unfortunately the person or contractor that installed the brick didn’t leave an appropriate amount of room from the height of the door sill to the height of the stoop. Normally there is one full step down from the door sill to the concrete slab. This is extremely important in areas with snow but also in areas that get a good amount of rain. You don’t want the elements at the same height as the opening of the door or if there was some really heavy rain it would run off those bricks and under the door into the house. The same with snow.
Even if there isn’t flooding in the area the brick and mortar or even the concrete slab because they are porous will hold moister. This moister wicks up through the end grain of the door frame very easily because wood was once a tree and it naturally sucks up water like a straw through the end grain.
How To Prevent Door Frame Rot
Although the home owner may not like it the best solution would be to lower that stoop by removing the brick and probably pouring another slab for their front door. If the home owner just replaces the door frame or patches it then it is highly likely that this problem will return in a couple years.
No amount of paint sealer or flashing will be able to prevent the water infiltration over a long period of time. You could try to caulk the area with a silicon caulk if you caught the problem early but the location of this sill plate and frame means eventually the water will come back.
Either you live with the fact that every few years you will be repairing your door frame or you tare out the stoop and reinstall it correctly and add flashing at the bottom of the door.
Final Note
Many times the home owner will already understand why a problem is happening. The rot on this door did not happen in a few days or weeks. The problem must have happened over many months.
Often these things happen over winter months and then you realize just how bad it is next spring when you tap the area with your foot or a screw driver an the wood crumbles.
At that point you have no other choice but to repair the damage by replacing the wood. Some people might suggest that smaller damage can be cured by using fillers or epoxy material but it really won’t last very long.