How To Repair Rotted Wood Door with Bondo Wood Filler 

As a remodeling contractor in NorCal I've been using all-purpose bondo as a filler for my finish carpentry. I also use it for rot repair, except in most cases I apply Minwax liquid rotted wood stabilizer prior to filling with bondo. The liquid stabilizer fills the pores and hardens the remaining wood fibers in the repair area, making for a more solid repair.

Thank you so much for this video!! It was so thorough and easy to follow along. We have been stressing about our door and planning on replacing it. I had been avoiding it because I like the door and I knew it would be expensive. Finally called around and the cheapest I could find was at least $2000 because we have an odd sized door. I have loved our door that is original to our 1930s home. It adds so much character to our house. I got my husband to watch this with me and less than $100 later our door is looking good again!

Jeff, thank you for the education! You have been a great help. God bless you and your family!

I really appreciated your methodical approach to fixing a rotting door. I also liked your sense of humor throughout the presentation. Your video has saved me big bucks $$. Thank-you for your advice.

Just happened to find this video this morning as I was wondering how to prep first layer of bondo for a second layer. Have some rotted wood on my boat. Thought I’d try your trick to stuff the gap with masking tape then fill with Bondo. Worked great! Thanks and this video has earned you a subscription.

Thank you!! We have a bay window with about 2 inches in length of wood rot in the window trim and I have been stressing thinking the entire window would need to be removed and replaced. This is a great video with easy to follow directions. Also laughed for a solid 5min when you mentioned “This old House” because I watched a video from them explaining how to fix wood rot and I thought I would have to by the $200 joint compound mix.

Steve. Jeff you did an awesome, awesome job on that door. I learned a lot of you. Thank you very much. Keep up the awesome work.

Wood door repair, Bondo adhesive and tools in this video: 🛒 NEW Bondo Pro Series 1-qt. High Bond Filler and Hardener: homedepot.sjv.io/2A5dA 🛒 Pin Popper Door Hinge Pin Remover amzn.to/2mjovxj 🛒 DEWALT DCK299D1T1 Hammer Drill, Impact Driver Kit: amzn.to/2M6h450 🛒 DEWALT DWA4974 Aluminum Oxide Grinding Point amzn.to/2n7kXia

I am currently working on a home with water and rot issues. Thanks for this Jeff!

Great tutorial.I really like your completeness and the bit of humor. (And you are right about orthodontists!)

This is EXACTLY the repair I needed to know how to do! Thank you!

Terrific video - I love that you had to seal the doorframe to keep the cool air in 🤣🌞. I have the exact opposite problem here in the UK 🥶🌬☃️. Thanks for all the fantastic tips - really appreciate you sharing your experience/ knowledge 🙌🏻👍🏼

Thank you for that. I Learned something I can use . Good work 👏

I repaired a similar door years ago and tried using wood filler. Like you said wood filler is horrible! Wish I’d thought of Bondo! Great video

Really found this helpful and will be repairing a door tomorrow after getting my pin popper!

Great video! I picked up some bondo for a project and now I’m feeling much more confident (and entertained).

This video is just what I needed! Thanks!

Wow. I am impressed with how many comments you reply to. What more could viewers ask for? I really enjoyed the video and even enjoyed your side comments. Of course there are other ways to do repairs. Some better some worse. But I found this interesting. And, you're not the only one using Bondo for these types of repairs. Many craftsmen have been doing it for years. Don't listen to the haters. Keep up the good work!! I just ordered some Bondo.

VERY educational! Thank you. Great job!

You are awesome man, I have this kitchen cabinet that has been driving me crazy and I didn't know how to fix it BUT now I do thanks to you. Cheers

Amazing! Thank you for your patience, hard work and great presentation.

Excellent video. Just what I needed for repairs on my patio rails. Thank you. Jim

Wow! I would have given up too soon thinking I didn’t get it smooth on the first coat of bondo. Turned out great!

What a great video! Amazing fix and transformation! Thank you!

Hi Jeff. Great vid. I have a wood cabinet with rotted wood but the problem is the rotted wood is on the bottom corners of the cabinet. How would I fill it up with bondo and restore it to the same shape? In your vid the tape works as the rot is in the middle bottom layer. But I'm battling to figure out how best to handle the corners(it's a big chunk of rot that I need to get rid of). Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Durhams is good stuff, it just can't get wet. I really like Bondo for wood.

Thank you for this video, saved me a ton of headache having to replace a non standard size door

Great video! I always use a surform plane to take most of the Bondo off before it gets fully hardened. It makes the sanding much easier and faster. I learned that from watching auto body workers.

Thanks for the tip on the Bondo: you're right that wood putty is useless. The door came out great. I'm wondering, though, that because it's still a wood door, and it's still FL, would it be beneficial to install another plate to prevent future rot?

I cut the rotted sections out, and put blocks of timber in them because I’ve got a pet door in mine and I wanted to strengthen the door a bit More, my hardware store in Australia, recommended I use filler instead of bog, glad I watched this cuz I knew bog would be better. Although now that I’m finished I’m not sure about the bog, I couldn’t get a meat finish on it, using those trowels is really an art especially when you’ve only got a couple of minutes to finalise it and especially when you gotta create an angle, the whole bottom edge of my door was caved in, so I had to build it up to match the rest of the door, I tried using tape but it kept coming off, so you can clearly see all the bog after I’ve painted it, I don’t have an electric sander either so that probably doesn’t help. I also couldn’t get the bottom pin out from my door, it’s too close to the ground, so I took the screws put of the door, cuz I have a metal door frame and it’s got pop rivets to the frame, which I don’t have a lot of experience with so I don’t really want to touch. Have you got a link for that door pin remover?

Jeff awesome DIY repair turning a seemly impossible dry rot into a "swan" of a door ! Very useful step by step instructions. Try to watch ur DIY repair vids. Kudos for upload. Will incorporate ur instructions in my own dry rot fascia repair. Anticipating ur next one. Peace

Great Video Jeff, you are a good teacher.

I have been using a small window squeegee, like what is sold for showers, instead of a spackling tool for my finish work before painting. The squeegee eliminates the lines that are caused when the hard metal spackle tool skips over any hard nub. Once dry you can push out any high spot. I haven't used this on the bondo. But will try it to see if it works. I used a two part auto bondo to repair my crumbling septic tank 15 years ago. It's still holding apparently.

The bondo seemed like more work than just cutting the center out and replacing the wood. I do use and like bondo myself; the same company makes a fiber reinforced filler as well that is stronger for larger gaps. You can get bondo poly resin that soaks in to rotted wood first to get a slightly stronger bond and end product. I also use DAP Plastic Wood filler; it is solvent based and sets fast as a single part mix. I also use an epoxy wood filler that’s 2 parts and works like a thick putty. Bondo is great with doors though because it is strong and you can both drill and if needed tap it. You can mix in Xylene about 5-10% to the bondo first than add hardener and actually inject the bondo; it just takes longer to set up but it works great for tougher to get in areas.

Thanks for the video, you explained things great for beginners!

You just solved a problem for me mate, love this video. Nice and easy job that was explained well. Subscribed and looking forward to new videos.

i just use my trusty nail set to hit the pins up and out, and i'd bet those plates contributed to the wood rot, there were gaps at the top and no where for it to weep out effectively

Loved the video and your channel! I have a antique door similar not nearly as much rot just a little. Filling it all with bondo. To your other rude commentors. No i do not want a new door. This one is perfect and just needs some TLC. So glad i stumbled upon this video. How would you seal the windows in a old antique shaker door ? It has 6 windows on top. Want to make sure it is sealed. Caulking?

Great job - Thank you for taking the time to film this!

Thank you from over here in Australia. This video has solved a problem for me. 👍

Do not use blue tape to fill the gap since the bondo will not have support and will crack by the edges. Use pieces of wood instead off and you will get a solid support. Do not use blue tape to form the edge of the door. Use a strait edge ( any piece of wood cover with cling wrap). Use a bondo file to smooth the surface. Do this before the bondo be full cure and stay soft but not sticky yet. I had been fixing rotted bottom doors, bottom rotted door frames and house siding rotted board, using this technic and remains good forever and never rotted back in the same place again.

Thanks for the tutorial! During an exterior paint job I accidentally got myself into fixing a rotten front door just like this! Hopefully it turns out great just like yours. Any tip on how to try to make a wood like texture??

Good tip Jeff, because replacing doors takes a lot of skill along with many headaches!

Nice job. I have to repair some No. 105 siding and your video really helped. Thanks!

I found that stucco screen rolled up and screwed inside the larger cavities makes an extremely strong attachment and holds the bondo in place.

It looks wonderful. How long do these types of repairs last? I've only recently started using Bondo on wood, I love the stuff, best filler ever. I just wonder how long my repairs will last.

I usually get the off the shelf whites too. Best trim color ever. Seems like the of the shelf the gloss whites blend nicely enough to touch up with a different can if needed

Wow! Thank you for sharing.

This is exactly what my back door looks like on my 110 year old craftsman home. The dog tore it up it already had some rot. I can't find a door like the one that's there so I have to fix it. Like you showed, I have two plywood panels to hide the damage. I'll do this tomorrow. Thank you for the demo.

To remove the rotted wood I use a Dremel and a old wood carving bit. Kind of like a carbon bur. Woks real nice. Gets right down in there.

You are a wonderful person. Bondo is my new go to.

Really nice job. Thank you for posting this video.

Do you have a video dealing with the same sort of problem but using expanding foam as the filler? I have a wooden vertical bean that has holes where it was nailed to the exterior. I am going to use foam as the filler and then top it off with bog (bondo). Cheers.

Hey Jeff, curious to why didn't you use newspaper or something like that instead of the painter's tape? I still like the video, I learned a lot. Never would have thought about Bondo. I think of drywall mud or something else like that. Thanks again Rodney

Love this Repairs of an old rotted bottom dresser so this is primely helpful thank you 😊

Nice job. Thanks, I learned a lot.

Thanks for showing this! Forget all the negativity- you said flat out that this is the quick and crappy way to do it. Everyone here’s acting like you were doing a paid job. I have a junky old door that I’m going to do this with. Hope it looks as great as yours!

Listening to a wood rot video, fungus causes the decay to wet wood. Was going to epoxy after spraying with clorox solution to keep fungus down. Have never used bondo. Will try. Great explanation!

Great video. Plan to fix a rotten mailbox post with a flower pot holder. This video provided me all the great idea. Thanks!

Great video and liked "the corroded metal is just blocking the artery", great analogy!!

I've used Bondo to fill minor imperfections in wood. If the wood shows rot damage, I'll clean as much of the rot as practical, use a bit of wood hardener resin and then the Bondo. That door has way too much rot to fill with Bondo. I would have hung a new door or if the customer insisted on repairing the old door, I would have replaced the bottom rail entirely.

Great fix. I hate it when my feet get rained on when going #2. Also foolish to have the hinges on the exterior. Robbers dream. One more thought. For holes that large I would probably screw some screws into the cavity to give the bondo something to hold onto. Overall great repair for what you had to work with.

You are a good teacher, man. Thanks. I have some builder grade vanity drawers that are shedding. Do you think I could use this to cover the drawer box sides or would something else work better?

Thank you for the video you mentioned that if you had expanding spray foam you would have used it before the bondo. do you have a specific manuf and product?

We used this putty only for little cracks. In this cases, we used to replace the missing wood with a piece cut and shaped to fit in place. The putty gets broken easily when the door slams

You can harden the remaining wood with minwax lquid wood restorer, the Bondi adheres to it and makes a better repair, dries fast

Thank you was going to us that wood putty and really didn't want to. I was glad I watched you .my aluminum trailer has wood rot.

Very well done informational video. I'm wanting to repair some minor rot at the base of my shed walls, walls are T-111 19/32" thick and bottom of walls are about 5" above the ground. Just a few rotted sections along bottom about 4" wide x 2" high each spot. I'd like to give this stuff a try... Perhaps I can use tape underneath across the bottom edge to help form a straight bottom?

I appreciate quick fix videos like this and do not mean to be crapping on this DIY repair. However, I would recommend filling with something else other than tape because tape has a "non-stick" surface which is sort of like grease paper. The non-stick side function is so you can peel it off itself on the roll. If you've ever seen any DIY with epoxy they will tape with packing or cellophane to provide mold release against the epoxy in any project. For this purpose, using other fillers would be much better for longevity. I'm sure it held up OK in this repair but when you use bondo, you really want it to stick as much as possible even below the sanded surface.

This is what I’m looking for. Never work with wood filler. I built a desk for my girls. 1st major project and I mess up a little bit with the wood. I end up with a small hole on top of the desk and need to fill it in b4 I sand and stain.

what a transformation enjoyed the video.

This is an amazing job you've done. My carpenter just stuck two plates on my rotten doors and now looking at all the work you put in, I see why he's not doing a similar job. i would do it myself but that's a lot of sanding. Thanks for sharing this. That door really is a piece of art after you're done! Gives me some hope for my doors!

I would have used one hinge pin to remove the seized one from while it was still mounted on the door frame.

He just said it cost $ 7000 for his daughter’s dental brace! Thank God for the NHS. Both my daughters had theirs free!

Love the shirt. I m redoing my outside windows. Love the little tool to remove the pin.

Thanks for the awesome tutorial, Jeff. Great video.

Body filler and padding...did you used to work in the used car trade in the 60s and 70s? I am sure I had a car repaired the same way... 😎

You could also fill the gaps with pieces of wood.

Excellent, thanks, using your idea to fix some rotted soffit wood from a ice damn on a house. Thanks for the tips!

Awesome video. I've a rotten wood at the bottom of one of my deck columns and I'll use your instructions to repair the hole.

Buddy, a little more care and you could have inserted some blocks of hard wood. Pin the hardwood then skim with Bondo, reinstate the drop lines and paint. About the same time and a lot less Bondo, less sanding and would last 5 years longer, gives the customer what they expect.

I've used aluminum foil instead of tape for this kind of gap filling. It works well with body filler. On a hot day, like 80 or higher, you'll be lucky it lasts two minutes after mixing. I've used just a smidgen less hardener to extend the time. How much is a smidgen? It's a bit less than itty bitty.

I use bondo at times but use a surform shaver while it’s still setting up saves lots of time and dust. Give it a try you’ll love it.

And the Oscar goes to... YOU for how this door looks. I just bought a 1932 cottage with tons of termite damage. Thanks for giving me a taste of my future!

Too much hardener in Bondo can cause it to react to fast and lose adhesion

Honestly, after all of that work for what looked like it took at least a couple of hours wouldn't it just have been easier to buy a new fiberglass or steel door and paint it? I have the same issue that has occurred at the bottom of a wood utility door on my garage. One of my brothers-in-law has done body repair work for years and uses Bondo to repair lots of things, so I'm familiar with it. But to hire a handyman here and have him do all that work would cost nearly as much or maybe even more (depending on the handyman) that buying a new steel door!

Thank you so much for this video. I need to fix some brown rot on some exterior beams and I didn't want to use epoxy or replace the beams

Thank you so much! I needed this.

To clean up vintage hinge sets...……. a power drill with a 32 cal. gun brass cleaning brush.... It's a "Bingo" as they say!,.... "they just say Bingo....

The metal panels attached to the outside of the door..... bad idea, esp. the top one. It was trapping water against the recessed panel and keeping it wet... nice pocket for rain, moisture to gather and wick right down into the joint of rails and styles. It covered the damage but compounded the problem making the issue a whole lot worse....

Thank you for your video. It was useful.

Great video I wish I would’ve found your channel earlier. Will the bondo hold up in multi season climate zones?

When removing hinge pins you should start with the bottom pin and move up because the weight of the door will tend to keep the lower hinges in line making removal of the top pin fairly easy. If you start at the top and work down you will have a bear of a time removing the bottom pin because the weight of the door is working against you as it tries to fall away from the jamb causing misalignment of the hinge components. That's what happened to this fellow. A cone stone like that in a low speed drill is quite likely the most useless tool you could possibly try because it plugs off with debris in literally seconds which causes the abrasive cutting edges to be ineffective. In fact of matter, stones should never be used on soft gummy material for this reason. Stones work on the principle that they must wear away to expose fresh abrasive. If you must use a rotary cutting tool use a carbide burr instead or better yet, just use a good old fashioned wood chisel or gouge and finish with a rotary burr. When it comes to working with bondo you should never mix it on a porous absorbent material like wood as it draws the liquid component out of the putty and causes faster curing. He should have used one of those kick plates he removed from the door. You should also have a much better handle on how much hardener to use. Using too much hardener also causes the putty to lose cohesion and it breaks away easier. When mixing bondo, you don't stir it. You use your putty knife and you scoop it up and lay it over on itself like you would if you were making bread dough. Stirring bondo is time consuming and will frequently give you a poor mix because the hardener is mixed through the putty inconsistently. You don't use your putty knives to take down "cheese" hard bondo. You use a cheese grater rasp. (www.amazon.com/AES-Industries-Cheesegrater-Adjustable-Position/dp/B0013HHSIQ/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&keywords=bondo+file&qid=1589137555&sr=8-12 ) It's faster, more precise, and won't gouge your surfaces. If you started to sand bondo that is that uneven in a body shop they would laugh you out of the shop. That's why you use the cheese grater. Bondo is great stuff when used properly but it does have a few failings. One of those failing is it has little strength without a good backer. If one was to accidentally bang or kick this "repair" there is a good chance it would cave in because the only backing it has is masking tape and air. He should have pulled as much of the tape as he possibly could and filled completely with bondo to avoid the void. This fellow fails miserably on all counts. Then at 27:32 there is that comment about how the door edge sits down low and the weather stripping will cover it. That sort of describes everything you will see here. It is the mark of a true blue scab tradesman. You know, the kind of guy who always cuts corners and always produces substandard work. He's the Mechanic that scabs brakes on cars that have accidents later. He's the Autobody guy who doesn't fix the rust but putties over it and paints it so it looks good for a couple of months. He's the Electrician who uses whatever wire he has around even if it's too small a gauge for the load. He's the House painter who doesn't prime new raw drywall so that he needs to use twice as much paint and gets a streaky finish. He's the Drywaller that hangs sheet any old way and relies on the Taper to fix his mess. The kind of guy that shows up to do your work but somehow never has the right tool for the job so he "improvises". "I don't need no stinking chisel! I have a slot screwdriver for that!" You all know that guy......... As far as subscribing.......I seem to remember something about a snowball chances in hell. This is totally amateur night and if you hire this guy or someone like him you are paying far too much for too little. Crap is crap and just because you put lipstick on it doesn't make it less of a pig.

Hey exposed hinges... wrong thieves can pop them right out...you need other type... plus use scrap wood as filler..v rot cut strait lines cut and glue a filler.. then glue in v repair...other side too... then counter sink screws thru frame... fast done... use Bondo as last filler.. that's me.. permanent fix..

good video, gonna try this on my wood siding that got a little rot in them.

Thanks so much Jeff, this video helped me out a lot . I was trying to restore an old door in my home and you are right about that wood putty being crap, but I found your video here and helped me so much. I ran out and got me some of the bondo and now my door is beautiful. 👍👍

Amazing all the keyboard cowboys that could do a better job!!!

I bet all the weight of the door was on that pin you could have still popped it if you raised the door slightly and angled it just right.

TOP REPAIR SQUARED OFF AND LEVEL AND A GREAT PAINT JOB.

Thank for this video. I am about to apply bondo to my custom designed fence and didn't know how to use it. The door looks amazing and brand new. To bad you couldn't have stripped the hinges it would have been even more perfect. Maybe they will repaint them? Good job!!!!!