Repair Outdoor Dry-Rot

So this is the outdoor entrance to my garage. After years of rain and snow, the bottom of the door frame is now soft, squishy, and sad looking.

I got a quote from a task rabbit contractor to replace the whole thing for $1,200 (for one standard door and two garage door frames)!

This was a full day Sunday project, and well worth it.

Step 1: Get Bondo Rotted Wood Restorer and Bondo Wood Filler (Total Cost = under $40)

You can buy these products at any Home Depot, Lowes, or with the click of a button on Amazon. I've included links in this article (above) to show you exactly what I used.

Step 2:  Prep the Area and Apply the Wood Restorer and Filler

Make sure you do this project on a nice, sunny day. First, I got a damp rag with some water and Dawn dish soap and wiped the entire area clean, letting the rotted wood surface dry completely before applying the Bondo Wood Restorer.

I applied 6 coats of Bondo Wood Restorer (waiting 5-10 minutes between each coat). It was easy and fun - like a paint project. A little can actually went a long way. I definitely didn't need to buy 2 cans of this stuff, and I had a pretty big project. It was truly exciting seeing how with each coat, all the soft dry rot turn rock hard. It gave me confidence that this was actually going to work. After the final 6th coat, I waited 5 hours before applying the Bondo Wood Filler.

Then the cool part - The Wood Filler came with a plastic white cap that I used to mix the actual Bondo product with the knead hardener (also included). You just mix these two things together with a putty knife and then you start filling in the holes in the wood.

Big Watch-out: You have to work QUICKLY. Bondo hardens in 3-5 minutes, so the time starts clicking as soon as you pour the Bondo Wood Filler from the container. Mix in small amounts at a time.

Like I said, I had big, gaping holes in my wooden door frames, so I packed a whole bunch of Bondo all over the place, and then tried to make it look as smooth as possible with my putty knife. Once I was done, I let the area dry for a full hour, and then did a light sanding with 80 grit sand paper.

Finally, I painted all the frames in a nice black color, and that was it.

Here's a picture of the finished product. I did this project in November 2017, and it is now April 2018 - and it still looks perfect. No dry rot at all!

If you need an extra pep talk with more detailed instructions, here's the official Bondo youtube video:
https://youtu.be/o1lOaPhhC-s