# (urgent!) Covering/repairing damage on wooden door frame?



## Photinus (Jul 19, 2006)

To start off, I have absolutely no knowledge in anything construction or otherwise, and i'm hoping some experts can help me out..which is why i'm here. 

The situation is this;

We live in an apartment building that forbids pets, but seeing as I've had my cat since I was in 3rd grade (I'm 21 now), I couldn't bear to just let her go to somebody else. Everything's been fine, except for her love of using our bathroom door frame as a scratching post. We've tried buying her an actual cat-scratch post but she never used it. Fast forward to last week, my mom got a notice saying the landlord and a plumber were coming to inspect the bathrooms for water leakage. I wasn't aware of this until an hour ago, and we're in danger of being evicted if they see the scratching damage. It's in the same area, about 2 feet off the ground, half an inch has been shredded away from the frame. 

If I can get this fixed, or covered up in a single day (They'll be here on thursday morning, it's now tuesday night.), we should be fine. There's absolutely no way to re-fit another frame around the door in that amount of time, so are there any other ideas out there? I've thought of completely destroying that portion of the frame and making up another excuse, but that would be a last ditch effort.


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## Photinus (Jul 19, 2006)

Upon further investigation, do you think Wood Stain would mask up the scratched wood good enough? That is, the light color of the inside wood as opposed to the dark surface? I only need my landlord to not notice, and seeing as theres a huge "white" spot on the door frame, that's pretty easy to target.


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## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

Yes, it would make it blend .....visually in color and take away some 'noticibility'.

If the scratches are deeper...
You could also try some wood putty. You can purchase wood putty in a 'neutral color that is stainable. You can also get it in different shades of stain color to more closely match existing stained wood. 
Remember to get STAINABLE putty. 
What to do: The key is put it on a little heavy to fill the areas, Then use a vary damp sponge and bucket of rinsing water also, and your fingers to blend it to the shape, depth, look of what the wood looks like - were the area 'unscratched'.
Let it dry, if needed - sand it lightly. If it needs more work...add more putty, use sponge, repeat, etc.
Let dry and stain to match. The more coats of stain you use, the darker it will get.


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