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Mold On Oak Door Jamb

What could possibly cause the staining on this oak door jam, when the carpeting and kitchen flooring looks like it has been maintained perfectly?

It could be a number of things, but let's go back to someone mopping the kitchen floor. If you're using water and it gets underneath the door jam, you've got a problem. The water can easily seep underneath the edge of the carpeting or floor trim, allowing the moisture to remain, out of your reach.

Home Repair Tip: Wood and Water Don't Mix Too Well, Remember That.

As homeowners we need to keep this in mind. Any areas in your home like the bathroom or kitchen that could get wet, could develop problems like these. If this would have been a painted door jam, you probably wouldn't have ever noticed the damage.

What can you do to fix it? I have two words for you, good luck. There's a good chance that you can't sand the stain out of the wood and then refinish it. This is the first avenue that most homeowners and professionals seem to take, only to end up frustrated when all of their work doesn't solve their problem.

I would like to point something else out, if you notice the stain on the kitchen side of the door jam is bigger than the stain on the carpet side. This should tell you, that the moisture is a bigger problem on the kitchen side than the carpet side of the door jam.

You might not be able to remove the stain, but you can prevent it from getting bigger. If you think the problem is for mopping the floor with excessive water, simply change those habits to prevent further damage to the door jam. However, if you don't think that's the problem, start paying attention to other things that could be the problem.

Home Repair Secret: When installing door jams, try to install them at the least 1/8 of an inch but preferably a 1/4 of an inch off of the floor. This could prevent any moisture that accumulates on top of the floor, direct access to the wood door jam. Most professionals use this home repair secret but very few people know about it. This would also help with termites. If you had termites in your door jam, this could prevent them from going into the wood flooring and vice versa.