How to a door trim chewed by a puppy?

[Tywoodpk]

I have this piece of door trim in my living area that was chewed by a poodle puppy. I’m wondering how I go about fixing it, please?

It's timber with a stain. Can I do it myself or do I need a carpenter/handyman? I own the house, and I’m thinking of selling within the next 12 months so I’ve just started to do all the little details now.  Thanks in advance for any advice. 

 Thank you in advance for all advice.

[EricL]

Hello @Tywoodpk 

It's hard to tell how deep the damage is, but the general procedure is to sand the door trim back to timber. You can then apply your choice of stain and varnish. Please note that it is extremely difficult to get an exact match to your existing trim colour due to time and weathering. Painting over the existing varnish without sanding will result in a patchy finish as the colours will be different.  

Can you use timber filler? Yes, you can, you just need to find a finish that's close to the colour you want to use on your door trim. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Tywoodpk]

Thank you.  The largest area is quite deep, I was thinking that area would need filling as it would look obvious if just sanded and painted. 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Tywoodpk,

I'd suggest that it would be very difficult to repair this damage and be able to retain the timber look. The easiest option would be to fill the area, sand it smooth and then coat the whole frame with paint.

Mitchell