How To Repair Dents In Metal Front Door

Steel entry doors are secure, they feature highly efficient magnetic weather stripping and they come in a variety of traditional and gimmicky styles. Some models even have an embossed wood-grain blueprint that can be stained. Plus, steel doors typically price less than wood or fiberglass doors. It's no wonder they're and so pop.

Simply steel doors aren't perfect. They paring adequately hands if struck past a hard object, such equally a kicking heel, rock thrown by the lawnmower or rise fastball. The good news is, with the proper patching compound yous tin can permanently repair any dent, gouge or pigsty in less than two hours.

•Sand the dented area down to bare metal with 150-grit sandpaper. Be sure to remove paint from deep crevices.

•Make clean and degrease the sanded area with a soft, clean cloth dampened with either acetone or rubbing alcohol.

•Squeeze out a bead of hardener beside the mound of automobile-trunk filler. Blend the two with a putty knife.

•Use a half dozen-in.-wide plastic spreader to apply the filler to the paring. Be sure to slightly overfill the surface area.

•Smooth the patch outset with lxxx-grit sandpaper on a rubber sanding block, then switch to 150-dust newspaper.

•Mask off the repair area with sheets of newspaper, then apply 2 light coats of a rust-inhibiting primer.

•Wrap 400-grit wet/dry sandpaper around a sponge, dip it into water and sand the patch until it'south burnished-smooth.

•Castor on two light coats of a high-quality enamel trim paint, allowing the paint to completely dry out between coats.

Sand the dented expanse downward to bare metal with 150-grit sandpaper. Be sure to remove pigment from deep crevices.

The Right Stuff

Don't repair a dented door with spackling paste or forest putty; neither compound bonds very well to metallic. Instead, utilise an auto-trunk filler, which is specifically formulated for adhering to metal surfaces. This type of filler also dries stone difficult so information technology sands smooth and flat, and it produces a perfect surface for pigment.

For our door repair, we used the Bondo Auto-Body Repair Kit ($6), which includes a xv-oz. can of polyester resin-and-fiberglass filler, a small tube of cream hardener and a plastic spreader. You can find the kit at about hardware stores, home centers and auto-supply shops.

To consummate the repair, you'll also need a rubber sanding cake, a medium-size household sponge, acetone, two sheets of lxxx-grit aluminum-oxide sandpaper, two sheets of 150-dust aluminum-oxide sand-paper, one canvass of 400-grit silicon-carbide wet/dry sandpaper, metallic primer and paint that matches the color of the door.

Skillful-bye Paring

Auto-body filler must be applied to bare metal, so begin by sanding the surface area around the dent with 150-grit sandpaper wrapped around the sanding block. Then, remove the sandpaper from the sanding block and use it to mitt-sand the deep recesses of the dent. Lightly wipe down the unabridged expanse with a make clean cloth dampened with acetone or rubbing alcohol.

Auto-torso filler is a two-role resin that must be mixed with hardener before it tin can be practical. Go on in listen, though, in one case the filler is mixed, you lot've only got about four minutes to fill the dent before the resin begins to harden.

Using a clean putty knife, scoop out approximately viii tbs. of the gray filler, placing it onto a piece of plywood or cardboard. Later gently kneading the tube of red hardener, clasp out about ane/ii tsp. adjacent to the filler. Thoroughly mix the two components with a putty knife for no more than 1 minute. Be sure that the filler is uniformly pink, with no gray or cerise streaks.

Adjacent, scoop up some of the filler with the plastic spreader and smear it across the dent, forcing information technology deep into the crevice. Overfill the dent slightly and so plume out the filler beyond the dent by an inch or so all effectually. Note that large, deep dents will require 2 applications of filler.

Look about 30 minutes, then check to make certain the filler is fully cured. (If you can scratch information technology with your fingernail, look a bit longer.) While wearing a dust mask, brainstorm smoothing out the filler with 80-grit sandpaper on the rubber sanding block. Proceed sanding until all the high spots are removed and the filler begins to blend in with the surrounding surface. Switch to 150-dust sandpaper and finish-sand the entire patch.

If you lot observe whatsoever voids or low spots, mix upwards another batch of filler and spread a thin glaze across the surface. When this coat has fully cured, lightly sand the surface with 150-grit sandpaper.

Clean and degrease the sanded area with a soft, clean material dampened with either acetone or rubbing alcohol.

Final Touch-up

With the dent filled and sanded, it'due south time to apply a primer paint glaze made specifically for metal. Cull either a rust-inhibiting automotive primer or a brush-on metal primer. We used a spray primer because it dries quickly and costs less.

Mask off the area effectually the repair with sheets of paper. Apply a sparse primer coat and let it dry out, then apply a second thin glaze.

When the 2d glaze is dry out to the touch, remove the newspaper and smooth the primed area with 400-grit wet/dry out sandpaper that you've wrapped around a sponge. Dip the sponge and sandpaper into a bucket of h2o and lightly sand the area.

Thoroughly dry the door, then castor on ii light coats of an exterior-course enamel paint. Apply the paint in vertical strokes to reduce the chance of unsightly brush marks.

Depending on the status of the balance of the door, the freshly painted patch may stand out from the surrounding surface. If that'due south the case, yous might want to repaint the unabridged door.

Squeeze out a bead of hardener beside the mound of auto-body filler. Blend the two with a putty knife.

Where To Detect It:

Bondo/Mar-Hyde Corp.

3700 Atlanta Industrial Pkwy

Dept. TH999

Atlanta, GA 30331

www.bondomarhyde.com

800/421-2663

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/doors/21014869/new-life-for-a-dented-door

Share this post