External Doors Repaired to Keep the Weather Where It Belongs in Dudley

What outside doors put up with

Your front or back door works in weather no internal door ever sees: rain, temperature swings, sun on one face and cold on the other. Hardware corrodes, timber swells and shrinks, gaskets harden and crack, and the door that closed perfectly three winters ago now draughts, scrapes or will not lock without a shoulder. External door repair is about restoring that fit — and being straight with you when the door is past it, because an external door is both a weather seal and the main way into your home.

First, what kind of door

The repair depends entirely on the material. A timber door can be planed, spliced and resealed. A UPVC door is adjusted, never planed — its sash drops on its hinges and is brought back with cam adjustments, and its locking strip needs the keeps on the frame to stay in line. Composite doors sit somewhere between, with their own hinge and keep arrangements. We identify the door and the actual fault before touching anything, because the wrong approach on a UPVC door does real damage that is expensive to undo.

Timber door repairs

Common timber faults are swollen binding edges, rot at the bottom where rain splash-back sits, failed weather seals and corroded hardware. We ease binding edges minimally and reseal them immediately — an unsealed planed edge drinks rain and the problem returns worse. Localised rot can be cut out and sound timber spliced in, with the area finished so water runs off it again rather than pooling. Hinges, locks and door furniture are replaced where corroded, and on an external door hardware condition is a security matter as well as a cosmetic one, so we are direct about what needs renewing rather than what merely looks tired.

UPVC and composite door repairs

Most UPVC complaints — hard to lift the handle, the door standing proud of the frame, a draught along one side — are adjustment issues with hinges and keeps, and careful incremental adjustment usually brings the door back into its seal. It is half-a-turn-at-a-time work, testing after each change, because over-adjustment leaves the door pressing on the gasket and straining the lock. Where the multipoint mechanism itself is failing, that is a separate repair with its own diagnosis. Failed gaskets and glazing problems are assessed honestly: a misted double-glazed panel means a new sealed unit, which is a glazing job rather than a door adjustment, and we will classify it correctly before quoting.

Draughts, water and the wider picture

Before any repair we look at why the door is struggling: a threshold that holds standing water, a porch canopy that has gone, a gutter dripping onto the frame, a step that lets rain bounce under the door. Fixing the door while the cause continues is money spent twice. We will point out the cause and, where it is within handyman scope, deal with it; where it is a builder's job, we will say so plainly rather than let a temporary fix masquerade as a repair.

Security and honesty

An external door is your home's main defence, so we treat its hardware condition seriously and will not leave a door that cannot lock. What we do not do is claim a repair makes the door more secure without assessing the whole assembly — door, frame, locks and hinges together. If security is your actual concern, say so at booking and we will inspect it properly and talk through the options, including the ones we cannot provide.

Booking

We cover the West Midlands and same-day appointments may be available depending on when you call — which matters when the door you are ringing about is the one keeping the rain out or the house secure. A booking fee is paid when you reserve the slot; the hourly labour rate depends on how soon you need the visit; the full cost is quoted and approved by you before work starts. Materials such as replacement gaskets, hardware or repair timber are identified and quoted separately.