Weathered and Worn Home Fixes

Over the years the sun, rain, and cold can really take a toll on your house. In this episode we’re repairing weather-related home damage by refinishing a weathered entry door, sprucing up a worn concrete patio, and replacing water damaged siding.

Refinish Weathered Entry Door

Entry doors take a lot of abuse from the elements, especially stained or natural wood doors.

To refinish an entry door:

1. Take the door off the hinges and lay it on two sawhorses.
2. Remove the hinges, lockset, deadbolt, and any other hardware.
3. Sand door to bare wood using an oscillating or random orbit sander.
4. Remove any sanding dust, then apply penetrating stain.
5. Apply several coats of spar varnish, sanding lightly between coats.
6. Rehang the door and install door hardware.

Watch our video on How to Refinish an Entry Door to find out more.

Repair and Stain Concrete Patio

To improve a neglected concrete patio, start by cleaning it with a pressure washer. Next, use lacquer thinner and a wire brush to remove any paint splatters, and repair any damaged areas of the concrete, such as with QUIKRETE Fast Setting Concrete Mix.

How to repair damaged concrete:

1. Remove any loose concrete with a chisel.
2. Sweep out any dust or debris.
3. Use a paintbrush to dampen the concrete with water.
4. Mix up concrete mix, and fill the damaged area with it.
5. Use a putty knife or trowel to smooth the concrete.
6. Allow the concrete to dry before walking on it.

Scoring grooves in concrete:

To improve the look of a concrete patio, you can cut shallow grooves in it with a circular saw. NOTE: Always were an approved dust mask or respirator when cutting concrete or fiber cement.

1. Mark the locations for the grooves with a chalk line.
2. Set a circular saw equipped with a masonry blade to a 1/8” deep cut.
3. Position a straight edge on the concrete as a guide for the saw.
4. Place the base of the saw against the straight edge.
5. Cut the grooves in the concrete.

Staining and sealing concrete:

After all the dust from scoring had been removed from the patio, we applied a coat of translucent, Golden Wheat water based QUIKRETE Concrete Stain. The stain can be applied using a roller, brush, or pump up sprayer.

Once the stain was dry, QUIKRETE Waterproofing Sealer was applied with a pump up sprayer followed by a roller to even out the finish.

Watch our video on Improving the Look of a Concrete Patio to find out more.

Replace Weather Damaged Siding

Water and the elements can cause wood and hardboard siding to rot or deteriorate over time. This occurs most often on the bottom rows of siding or where an adjoining roof meets a wall.

Fiber cement siding is a good choice to replace damaged siding, since it won’t rot or deteriorate over time.

To replace damaged siding:

1. Use a flat pry bar to remove the damaged siding.
2. Pull out any siding nails from the sheathing and top piece of siding.
3. If needed, apply housewrap or felt paper over the sheathing.
4. Nail a starter strip of siding to the bottom of the wall.
5. Blind nail the siding to the wall starting with the bottom piece.
6. Fit the top piece behind the existing siding and nail through it.

Watch How to Replace Damaged Hardboard Siding to find out more.

Other Tips from This Episode