Been asked to mend an MDF wardrobe door in my daughter's house; the hinges have pulled out.
It's a great big door, almost 2m in height and about 500mm wide. It's made of 15mm MDF and then has some strips of something (probably thin MDF) on the front to give a panelled effect, so it's pretty heavy. It's hinged by four cabinet-type hinges, secured in the usual way with Euro screws into plastic plugs (at least I think they're all like that; I wasn't there when they pulled out and they don't all seem to have plugs now). Photographs at http://www.lawshouse.org/misc/wardrobe.html
The question is: how to mend it? I've thought of:
(1) Drilling the existing holes out and gluing in "proper" wood plugs, to screw into. Not sure this would be strong enough: gluing into MDF isn't wonderful.
(2) Hinge repair plates, like http://www.hafele.co.uk/shop/p/hinge-repair-plates/hinge-repair-plates/94322/10529 and a number of other patterns. Never used these; do they really work or are they just a bodge?
(3) Moving all four hinges away from their current locations and re-doing them in the same way as at present. I've not fixed this pattern of hinge before and I don't fancy learning on the job (and I'd need to buy the requisite drill). I'd be inclined to put five hinges in if I could.
Advice on how to do this would be gratefully received.
It's a great big door, almost 2m in height and about 500mm wide. It's made of 15mm MDF and then has some strips of something (probably thin MDF) on the front to give a panelled effect, so it's pretty heavy. It's hinged by four cabinet-type hinges, secured in the usual way with Euro screws into plastic plugs (at least I think they're all like that; I wasn't there when they pulled out and they don't all seem to have plugs now). Photographs at http://www.lawshouse.org/misc/wardrobe.html
The question is: how to mend it? I've thought of:
(1) Drilling the existing holes out and gluing in "proper" wood plugs, to screw into. Not sure this would be strong enough: gluing into MDF isn't wonderful.
(2) Hinge repair plates, like http://www.hafele.co.uk/shop/p/hinge-repair-plates/hinge-repair-plates/94322/10529 and a number of other patterns. Never used these; do they really work or are they just a bodge?
(3) Moving all four hinges away from their current locations and re-doing them in the same way as at present. I've not fixed this pattern of hinge before and I don't fancy learning on the job (and I'd need to buy the requisite drill). I'd be inclined to put five hinges in if I could.
Advice on how to do this would be gratefully received.