Repairing Stain Grade hollow core door

[jacko9]

I have a house full of mahogany hollow core doors that I'm refinishing one by one and I noticed that one of them has the skin partially delaminated from the core.  Since this is a passage way door to the garage door (used to be a small laundry room in-between the two doors) I was rushing to get it re-finished quickly and when I noticed that two partial edges of the skin came lose from the inner rail and stile I just glued them together.  That was before I noticed that the center of the door skin was delaminated from the hollow core honeycomb so, popping the door skin off one side is out of the question (used good Titebond III to glue the edge back together).

I thought about drilling a hole on the hinge side of the food mid-way up and while the door rests on it's side edge spray in 3M Hi Strength 910 Contact Adhesive through the 3/8" hole and then put the door in it's loose face and use a sheet of plywood with some weight on top to apply pressure.

Anybody have any experience doing this kind of repair?  Any other suggestions?

Thanks for any comments,

Jack

 

[tjbnwi]

Drill a 1/2" hole, pinch the door between two solid surfaces, inject the door with urethane foam adhesive. It should expand through out the core.

Tom

 

[jacko9]

Drill a 1/2" hole, pinch the door between two solid surfaces, inject the door with urethane foam adhesive. It should expand through out the core.

Tom

Thanks Tom, that sounds better than the contact adhesive.  Do you have a brand urethane foam adhesive that you would recommend?  Available at the Home Depot of Lowes?

Jack

Jack

 

[cblanton42]

I get what you guys are thinking but then I thought about that honey-combed interior.... :  Any chance that honey-comb interior will keep the foam from getting to the area needing to be fixed?  Could you get a hole closer to the problem in any way and then patch it?  Then again, if it don't work it's just an $8 experiment.  I do think the foam has a lot better chance of getting to the area than spraying contact adhesive. Great Stuff is the most common brand , be careful of drips, it leaves a pretty stubborn stain so clean up spills ASAP!!
Good luck, let us know if it works!

CB 

 

[jacko9]

Well, I wound up drilling 5ea 1/2" holes and since the honeycomb was in the way I used a 5/16" dowel rod to push through the honeycomb to the full width.  I emptied a 16oz can of DAP foam into the cavities and sandwiched the door between plywood and my assembly bench and weighed it down with some heavy 8/4 stock and some table saw wings.  I'll let it cure overnight and we'll see the results tomorrow [eek]

Jack

 

[tjbnwi]

Well, I wound up drilling 5ea 1/2" holes and since the honeycomb was in the way I used a 5/16" dowel rod to push through the honeycomb to the full width.  I emptied a 16oz can of DAP foam into the cavities and sandwiched the door between plywood and my assembly bench and weighed it down with some heavy 8/4 stock and some table saw wings.  I'll let it cure overnight and we'll see the results tomorrow [eek]

Jack

That will work.

Give it 24 hours.

Sorry i did not get back to you sooner, life gets in the way at times.

Tom

 

[cblanton42]

Jack,
    I recently picked up a beautiful ribbon mahogany closet door 30"x 80" from a 50's bungalow teardown for free.  The veneer is so beautiful I'm wanting to try and use/save both sides for some project ideas because it's all so pretty and undamaged. That would involve separating it from the honeycomb somehow and then re-attaching to my projects with my vacuum press.  Since you're chin deep in my future problem that I haven't started yet.... ;D
1.  What is your honeycomb made of?  thin wood or cardboard maybe?  Mine will more than likely be the same.
2.  Am I crazy for even thinking this?  I can use the door as is, I just would like to use all of that veneer if possible some way somehow, and man is it thick!  I could sand any scratches no problem!  Just curious what you think?

Thanks,
CB

 

[jacko9]

Jack,
    I recently picked up a beautiful ribbon mahogany closet door 30"x 80" from a 50's bungalow teardown for free.  The veneer is so beautiful I'm wanting to try and use/save both sides for some project ideas because it's all so pretty and undamaged. That would involve separating it from the honeycomb somehow and then re-attaching to my projects with my vacuum press.  Since you're chin deep in my future problem that I haven't started yet.... ;D
1.  What is your honeycomb made of?  thin wood or cardboard maybe?  Mine will more than likely be the same.
2.  Am I crazy for even thinking this?  I can use the door as is, I just would like to use all of that veneer if possible some way somehow, and man is it thick!  I could sand any scratches no problem!  Just curious what you think?

Thanks,
CB

CB my door skin is almost 1/8" thick made up of cross ply mahogany.  The honeycomb seems to be thin curved strips of hard paper?  I was able to push a dowel rod through the curved honeycomb pretty easy.  The veneer layers in the door skin seem to be about 1/32" thick and while sanding that layer on a solid core would be very easy, the honeycomb structure does not give enough support to sand it smooth.  I can feel it rippling when hand sanding with 320 grit.  The door skin might be much more valuable than a hollow core door.  The skin is identified on the top rail as Lauan Mahogany which is a family of trees much different than South American or Cuban Mahogany.  Some of the Philippine Mahogany is very soft some of it is very hard almost brittle.

I hope this answers your question?

Jack

 

[jacko9]

Well, I wound up drilling 5ea 1/2" holes and since the honeycomb was in the way I used a 5/16" dowel rod to push through the honeycomb to the full width.  I emptied a 16oz can of DAP foam into the cavities and sandwiched the door between plywood and my assembly bench and weighed it down with some heavy 8/4 stock and some table saw wings.  I'll let it cure overnight and we'll see the results tomorrow [eek]

Jack

Thanks Tom,

This is one of the reasons that I come to the FOG site to get/and give useful information to each other.  I want to thank you for your helpful responses.

I'll post my results tomorrow.

Jack

That will work.

Give it 24 hours.

Sorry i did not get back to you sooner, life gets in the way at times.

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

That is one of the problems with specifying mahogany, there are many, some better than other.

Luan mahogany is Philliphine mahogany.

This order of luan doors is short 2 pallets of doors.

Tom

 

[cblanton42]

Thanks Jack,
    Yes, it helps a lot knowing what the guts are probably made of, how tough, etc. probably won't get to this till after the holidays so I have a while to think about it.  Here's a picture of the door I took the other day before putting in my storage unit, as you can see it's gorgeous![attachimg=1]

 

[jacko9]

cblanton,  that is a great looking door skin that would go well with some African Mahogany trim to build a nice small nightstand or small cabinet.

As far as my Delaminated Hollow Core door don't ever use DAPtex plus foam.  After 24 hours it was still milky soft and the sample application I did around a door opening is cured but marshmallow soft under the skin.

I used water to rinse it out of the cavity and then used my CT22 to vacuum the remains.  I not used some structural foam in it's place and I'll see tomorrow if I made a complete mess out of the door or just a one day delay!

Jack

 

[Cheese]

As far as my Delaminated Hollow Core door don't ever use DAPtex plus foam.  After 24 hours it was still milky soft and the sample application I did around a door opening is cured but marshmallow soft under the skin.

Jack that's too bad [sad], I should have given you a heads-up on using DAP products when I saw your post yesterday. I've had horrible experiences with all DAP products. The foam, the caulk and the adhesives all left a bad taste in my mouth, so I quit using their products about 8-9 years ago. Unfortunately, as can be seen from your recent experience, the formulation hasn't been changed.

FWIW, I've used Great Stuff Window & Door foam in the regular version and the pro version (reuseable gun) for projects similar to yours and find its bond strength to wood is tenacious. If some needs to be removed after its cured, it has to be sawn or scraped off with a carbide scraper.

 

[Cheese]

That is one of the problems with specifying mahogany, there are many, some better than other.
Tom

Tom,
That last picture of the doors looks really nice. Did you stain and then clear the doors? What products did you use?

 

[cblanton42]

cblanton,  that is a great looking door skin that would go well with some African Mahogany trim to build a nice small nightstand or small cabinet.

As far as my Delaminated Hollow Core door don't ever use DAPtex plus foam.  After 24 hours it was still milky soft and the sample application I did around a door opening is cured but marshmallow soft under the skin.

I used water to rinse it out of the cavity and then used my CT22 to vacuum the remains.  I not used some structural foam in it's place and I'll see tomorrow if I made a complete mess out of the door or just a one day delay!

Jack

Ughh!!  Sorry dude, hope you save it!

 

[tjbnwi]

That is one of the problems with specifying mahogany, there are many, some better than other.
Tom

Tom,
That last picture of the doors looks really nice. Did you stain and then clear the doors? What products did you use?

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

The stain is Sherwin Williams BAC, custom blended color. Top coated with SW Kem Aqua +.



Tom

 

[Cheese]

Thanks Tom...

You sure like using that Kem Aqua.

 

[jacko9]

Nice video Tom, That is sure a lot quicker than my door finishing!