help with something leaking from front door

[upjeeper]

good morning,
our front door is about 16 years old, and recently has started to leak a sticky / oily substance from the trim around the windows. i asked a friend who used to sell windows, and she told me to caulk over it.
i'd rather not spend 2-3k to replace our front door
any thoughts on how to handle this? i'm thinking clean with a putty knife, then acetone and repaint the door with an oil based paint

please / thanks

 

[Shiftless]

Is that wooden trim or metal or plastic? Metal door?

Be careful with acetone. It might soften up something you don’t want to soften up.

Scraping might ruin that pressed in texture on your door. How close to perfect to you need that repair job to be?

 

[Sumboodie]

It's the sealer they used to put the window in. My front door did that as well after a summer or two when the sun really cooked it.

Must be a really fancy door if it's costing 2-3k? The door on my house was maybe $400.

 

[The Cobbler]

it's the caulking that was installed on the lite from the factory . it has probably stained the door , but could try some lacquer thinner to see if it will remove it(carefully in an inconspicuous place . . clean it up , seal with a small bead of exterior caulking & paint the door and trim

 

[slowtwitch73]

Sob's all do that... pleasant yeah? Wait until it gets covered in bugs.

As metioned use acetone sparingly if at all...

 

[larry4406]

Agreed on all of the above responses.

That ogee trim profile is typically some sort of plastic and you have plugs on the inside trim to cover the screws that tighten the trim (inside and outside trim sandwiches the door and holds the glass once the screws are tightened). Very common for the silicone or whatever sealant was used to ******* out and eff with the door finish.

 

[rayra]

Pretty sure that's yellowed plastic trim on plastic (or steel) door skin. Easy clean up and re-paint. Acetone on a terrycloth rag. DON'T saturate that trim or flood the acetone down behind it. Stop rubbing before the remaining paint comes off. Prime then paint.

That's a pretty 'run of the mill' (figurative and literally) 36" entry door with fancy glass is $600-1500. OP must be talking about having somebody install it for him.

 

[WNYflyer]

If I remember right from many moons ago I think my front door had a sticker on it originally telling you to paint the door and trim to help seal that area to keep what the OP shows from happening. Of course I never got to it before it did the same as the OP as showing. Did the steel man door to my garage 2 years ago, first cleaned up the majority with a plastic razor blade thingy and cleaned up the rest using 3M adhesive remover sparingly. Primed and latex painted both the door and window trim and all is good so far for an fully exposed south facing basic steel door.

 

[engineer2]

Likely some adhesive or sealing material is deteriorating. Clean it off, wait a week to see if it re-appears.
Start with weaker solvents and go up if needed: Windex, mineral sprits, denatured or isopropyl alcohol, nail polish remover/acetone.
Caulk the perimeter with Quad OSI. It's polyurethane caulk. Use mineral sprits to tool it.

 

[CraigStu]

If you do any car work you may have a can of brake cleaner in the garage. Ad that to engineer2's list somewhere in the mineral spirits alcohol area. It cleans a lot of stuff and it hurts almost nothing.

 

[oldmachinenut]

Maybe it is a product of the Hoffa Door Company,
Their motto is,
“There is a little bit of Jimmy in every door”