Want to solidly fill gap between concrete and exterior door plate

Question

I recently installed an exterior double door. On the one side, the concrete floor slopes down, so I raised that side with shims. The bottom plate is level. I can cut and replace these shims with pressure treated wood, but I'd like to fill that gap if possible. I was thinking of forcing quickcrete or rocktite into the gap, and a neighbor suggested that liquid nail would probably work just as well.

To summarize I'm looking to:

Fill the gap between the metal plate and con. 21" x 4" area, starting at 0 and sloping to 1/2".
Provide support for the plate. Existing shims are not weather proof and will encounter moisture, and possibly direct contact with water.

Most other questions I've seen have to do with the threshold.

UnhandledExcepSean · Accepted Answer

Personally, I would use plastic shims and simply caulk the front with a solid color to hide the gap.

Lane M · Answer

I would consider an epoxy or resin type of material that can be injected through a small nozzle to fill up the space. It should prevent water/moisture from accumulating in the hidden spaces. In my opinion, using shims and just running a bead of your average polymer will not 'solidify' the plate. Movement from expansion/contraction or from foot traffic will cause the softer 'glue' to fail in time. With a solid - once cured - material, it will provide a rigid contact throughout the plate and be far less likely to fail, while also providing a moisture barrier if done correctly. Also, if you can work a quickset mortar into the gap it would be better than shims. But if you've never worked with a fast setting mortar type material, I wouldn't experiment with it on the first go round in this application.

Answered by Lane M on June 26, 2021

Want to solidly fill gap between concrete and exterior door plate

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