DIY Door Jamb Repairto Victorian Front Door Frame

The front door frame of my Victorian house is the original frame, although the door is a replacement. The door jambs (which are the side sections of the frame) had rotted at the bottoms. One side was a lot worse than the other.

This was the worst side, although the rot went up a lot higher than this hole suggests. You can see the bulging line up the jamb. That shows where the rot went up, due to damp wicking up the wood. 

I cut out the rot using an old chisel and was contemplating just patching up the jamb using a two-part filler, as everyone else seemed to have done on Youtube. However, the missing area was too big for filler so I knew I needed to get some woodwork done. I couldn't find a carpenter who was free to do a small job and I also knew it would cost a few hundred pounds, so I accepted that I had to fix it myself. Winter is coming and this hole, big enough for rats to get through, had to be closed.

I did buy some two-part filler for the gaps before I realised the extent of the problem and I could have used it for the left hand side jamb, which had a smaller hole. However, I thought I'd save it and, instead, use some leftover tile adhesive. I thought of using the tile adhesive because I knew it would dry rock hard, wouldn't shrink and was water resistant. I also knew that if it was applied a bit drier it would be easy to sculpt. One drawback is that it needs to be finished off, more or less, when applied as it can't be sanded very much, unlike filler. It can, however, be chiseled and lightly sanded.

Above is the worst side, minus the rotten jamb section and with new wooden parts fitted. I cut out the rotten part at an angle using a normal saw. I then cut again to remove a 90 degree section and then chiseled the last section of the jamb, which my saw could not reach. This new wood is tanalised timber from the gardening section of B&Q, bought in two different sizes to match the remaining jamb. I left the staples in the bottom end to allow a millimeter or two of space to reduce the risk of water wicking. I first removed any loose stones and crumbled mortar, dampened slightly using a spritzer and stuck the timber into place using leftover tile adhesive. It's now rock solid and I didn't need to fit screws through the pilot holes I'd drilled.

The gap left had to be filled using two pieces of pine as I couldn't find either tanelised wood or hardwood in the right sizes. You can see the two pieces of wood on the floor in the photo above. I applied lots of wood preservative though and also pushed in some tacks to the bottoms to lift the wood off the floor slightly.

Luckily, the rectangular shaped wood was a perfect snug fit and didn't need any adjustments or adhesives. If this part does rot in time, it will be easier to remove and replace. The protruding corner had to be cut off slightly to match the form of the original jamb above. I applied another coat of wood preservative for good measure.

The dowel was slightly smaller than the form above but I knew I would be able to match it with the original form sculpting tile adhesive next to it. The original jamb was made all in one piece of timber so each shape flowed into the next anyway. I used my finger, sculpting tools and a small paint brush to sculpt and match up the new parts to the old.

After some more filling (with the two-part filler this time), sanding and undercoating, hopefully no-one will ever know that this Victorian door frame has a wooden leg, so to speak.

Watch this space and Youtube for more updates on the renovation
of this faulty towers by me, House Fairy.