Door Repair

[Deepsouth]

Any suggestions for repairing this unsightly gouge in the front entry door on our 2011 Springdale? (Don't ask, stupid mistake!) Haven't been able to find anywhere to buy a sheet of pebble finished aluminum or I'd just replace the whole exterior skin.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks!

[TyeKane]

Originally Posted by Deepsouth

Any suggestions for repairing this unsightly gouge in the front entry door on our 2011 Springdale? (Don't ask, stupid mistake!) Haven't been able to find anywhere to buy a sheet of pebble finished aluminum or I'd just replace the whole exterior skin.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks!

There is a steel putty used to fix mufflers and such. I used it to make new window knobs after the plastic ones broke off. Its paintable you can file it down. Sand it and it's able to adhere to anything. You could try that.


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[Thundershorts]

I've used J B Weld to fix broken metal and plastic parts. Any part I've had to fix is usually not visible so you can!t see the grey color, but it works pretty good.

[Deepsouth]

I was thinking along the same lines, just wondering if the steel putty and JB Weld would melt the styrofoam under the aluminum. Do you think I should try to fill in the hole in the styrofoam? If so, should I use some kind of caulking or maybe some of that spray foam stuff?

Thanks for your suggestions.

[JRTJH]

If you remove the door from the trailer you can remove the edge molding, slide a cut piece of aluminum flashing (available in the roofing section of Lowe's or HD) between the foam and the damaged sheet metal. That would protect your insulation from any potential damage and strengthen the weakened metal skin. Then apply most any "bondo" type filler, JBWeld, steel putty, whatever you feel most comfortable using and have some experience with.

The biggest issue will be getting the proper "pebble finish" on the repair material. You can find several "vinyl repair kits" that do have pattern sheets that will provide something close. Or you could "wing it by hand". Once the repair has cured, paint the entire door and reinstall the edge molding, rehang the door and "pop a top" on your favorite beverage. It'll probably be a 2 day project (cure time/paint dry time) so plan a means to secure the trailer contents overnight.

Pictures and descriptions of your progress will help others on the forum if (when) they have a similar situation.....

Good Luck

[Deepsouth]

Door is off and I have some flashing around here somewhere. The pebble finish is going to be the problem, have to do some experimenting with that. I'll take pictures as the process proceeds. Thanks for the help.

[Acableguy06]

How about getting a sheet of the vinyl they use in bathrooms on the walls and replacing the whole skin with that? It comes in a pebble finish. No painting or anything, use your old piece as the template.

[notanlines]

Cableguy has a great idea. The product is referred to as FRP and is carried at Lowe's and Home Depot both. Good idea, Cableguy!

[Deepsouth]

Good idea, Acableguy06. That may be my backup plan. I checked on the FRP and it's pretty cheap. I'd like to avoid having to remove and reinstall the window in the door (already removed the window in the adjacent wall and it was no picnic) and want to try and preserve the graphics on the door if I can. Thought I could tape them off for repainting the door. Will let you know how this project goes.