Stir Stick Tip

As older homes are updated to accommodate today's needs, room usage is often changed. Commonly a door is permanently removed from its jamb. When the door is gone the recesses for the hinges and strike plate remain. Sometimes they are just painted over but things would look nicer if the were gone. The hinge recesses can be filled with putty and sanded, but this usually takes several applications of putty and results are less than perfect. Next time you run into this situation try filling the recess with a section of a paint stir stick. The thickness of the stick is very close to the depth of the recess and one application of putty usually takes care of the small cracks around the patch.

- Stephen Corwin

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2001