Day 5 – Add Weather Stripping to Doors and Windows
Welcome to Day 5 of my 31 Days of Handy Home Fixes. Winter is fast approaching and now is a good time to assess your doors and windows. Do you feel a draft by your window when the wind kicks up outside? Can you see daylight seeping through your door?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, you are throwing away money on heating and cooling your home. Today I’ll show you a super quick fix to make your home more energy efficient and weather tight.
Day 5. Add Weatherstripping to Doors and Windows
The photo above is a picture of the gap between our front doors. We were losing heat and letting the cold air inside through this gap. The solution is as simple as buying a roll of foam weatherstripping
Peel off a section of weatherstripping. Press it onto the door jamb. Peel off the protective paper. Test your door by closing it and look again for light.
No drafts will be sneaking in here! You can also use the same weatherstripping on the bottom of your old windows.
Do you have a post on that?
Thank God for you posting this, because, several years ago, my hubby put a very think weatherstripping around the door. When we woke tge next morning, tge door had popped open. I was so afraid, I thought (although I am a very light sleeper) someone had broken in an kidnapped our son. I frozen in my tracks, start yelling to my hubby to come check to see if our son still in his bed? He was, thanks to God. I refused to let my hubby tagle weatherstripping again. With your wonderful tutorial, I think I will be able to put weatherstripping around our door. Also, buying the proper weatherstripping. Thank you! Thanks you! By tge way, we now have a high tech alarm system. Yeah!!!
right you are about weatherstripping – I tried to do it last winter, pretty much made a mess of it… and now I have this stickystuff where I peeled it off this summer! I hope I will be able to do it better this year!
What about the bottom/underside of the door? I think my weather strip needs to be replaced (7 years since the house was built). Do take the door off its hinges?
You shouldn’t have to take the door off it’s hinges. The weatherstripping on the bottom is usually screwed into the front. It’s more of a rubber sweep.
Wow that looks really easy. I can see light coming through my front doors. They are double doors. I cannot wait to give this a try. Even I should be able to do this. And where on the bottom of the window do you put the weather stripping? Thanks so much for this series
Paula, I should have taken a picture. Open your window. You can put the weatherstripping on the underside of the window. There is likely a thin metal or vinyl strip installed on your window, but the foam is great at compressing if you window ledge isn’t perfectly level.
We just put brand new, weather tight windows in our home but we didn’t put weather stripping around our doors. Thank you for the suggestion – it will be first thing done tomorrow.