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My backyard has a wooden door. Recently part of it got cracked/broken (next to the latch). Please see the attached pictures. Currently the door can be closed, but I am pretty sure breaking through it should not be difficult in its current broken state. Any idea what needs to be done to fix this? How much will it cost approximately for parts and labor (assuming I hire someone)? Thanks.
Instead of tearing the "gate" apart to fix a splintering, just glue it back together.
Remove the latch so the splintered piece can be clamped back in place. You'll want "Gorilla Glue"- follow the directions!; clamp the piece in place, when the glue is cured, remove clamps and reinstall the latch- TO DONE!
I would remove the door, cut that section out (looks like maybe a foot) replace with new, reattach latch in the proper place. An afternoon of work and less than $10 expense.
I would got the remove the gate. Remove any screws in the splintered part. Drill a few pilot holes in the splintered part. Keep the splintered part apart with a wedge of some type. Apply Gorilla Glue as per directions. Remove wedge. Screw rust proof deck type screws in pilot holes to clamp it tight. Let dry. Rehang.
Take the small piece of hardware off, use some exterior rated construction adhesive on the broken pieces, put it back together with some galvanized steel nails. This corner may be predisposed to breakage so I recommend the further step of adding a piece of corner/angle metal of anywhere between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thickness to the affected area. You can paint it black to match the hardware and help prevent rusting. Use a piece of angle metal that would extend from under the top horizontal piece to about a foot below the current broken area. You can secure that into the gate frame with several plated screws that can also be painted to match. Reinstall your latch receiver: that may require some adjustment due to the added angle metal-or it may not.
Reinforcing that corner in this way will help prevent re-occurrence of the breakage rather than simply repairing the break as it is..
The shoe print where it appears someone was kicking at the door might be a give-away that your puny latch needs to be replaced with something more stout. If you have someone kicking at it, you can repair it until the cows come home and it won't solve the problem.
I wouldn't use hardware like that where the general public got to see it. Something that appears that flimsy is simply a macho challenge to every passing teenage boy. At a minimum, I would add a metal security sheath to the area. More likely I would do a couple of deadbolts.
The wood is cedar which is an extremely soft wood and easily broken.
It is not necessary to use "Gorilla Glue" which is an expanding polyurethane glue and extremely messy. If you get it on your skin, the only thing that will remove it is lacquer thinner or wearing it for a week or two until it wears off.
Exterior wood glue will permanently bond the pieces back together just as well and will wash off your hands with soap and water. The most common brand is Titebond exterior wood glue which has a blue label and can be found at Lowes, Home Depot and almost any other hardware store. It is still easy to remove from your skin after it has cured.
To make this gate more secure and prevent the cedar from fracturing again you have a few options. You can replace the bolts that hold that latch on with carriage bolts that go all the way through the 2x4 and exterior fencing and put the flat part on the outside so they can't be removed from the outside or you could use a sexnut/through bolt setup to accomplish the same thing. The sexnut/through bolt would probably work better with that latch because you could use a screw/bolt that fits into the tapered recesses properly.
Another option which would be more labor intensive would be to either replace that piece with with a harder wood or install a steel L plate and bolt the latch to the steel.
Honestly though, don't get too carried away trying to make that latch as strong as fort knox because your entire fence is made of soft cedar and the fence boards can be jerked off with bare hands anyway. If someone wants in, they will get in. Besides, it is probably only 6 ft tall and even a 12 year old boy could run 3 three steps, grab the top and swing over it in about 3 seconds.
My builder guy says "remove the split board and replace it" He added that sometimes it takes a very thin sawzall to "surgically remove" the piece without disassembling the whole gate.
My builder guy says "remove the split board and replace it" He added that sometimes it takes a very thin sawzall to "surgically remove" the piece without disassembling the whole gate.
It depends on whether it was put together with nails or screws. If they used the screws, you just use a screw gun to take them out, replace the piece and put them back.
If it was put together with nails, they most likely used galvanized, ring shank, framing nail gun nails. Those typically do not pull out or apart very well at all. In this case, you would want to use either a sawzall with a fine tooth nail/metal blade as your guy suggested. Another newer tool/method that works extremely well also and is actually easier to control is a multi-tool with a metal cutting blade. They work very very well for these sorts of things.
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If you have someone kicking at it, you can repair it until the cows come home and it won't solve the problem.
