Weather Stripping Doors - A Good Home Improvement Task

Sealing the gaps around the doors in your home is critically important for cutting down on drafts and reducing energy loss. Although these small gaps may seem insignificant, they can add up to some serious loss of energy. To make this clear, a narrow gap of just 1/4 inch at the bottom of an entry door is equal to having a three inch square hole in the middle of your door. So, as you can see, one of the best home improvement tasks you can do is to apply weatherstripping to the doors in your home.

When a door is closed, warm and cool air can escape out between the door jamb and the door. You will get both more comfort and an increase in energy saving by sealing those gaps.

To begin this home improvement task, you need to take your supplies outside. When you are ready to begin, close and lock the door so that is it closed tightly. Measure the top of the door from the edge of the door stop on the left to the door stop on the right. (The door stop is the trim that runs along the door all around). Next take those measurements and mark the weather strip. Use snippers to cut the strip at the mark you made. Be sure it fits properly and then place the piece of weather stripping at the top of the door stop, but be sure not to press it too hard into place so that the door will open hard. Next take the screws that are provided and drive a screw into the middle hole on the metal strip. Do this until all of the screw holes have screws in them. If you begin in the center and work toward the ends you will have put equal pressure along the entire strip, ensuring a good tight fit.

The next step is in this do-it-yourself home improvement task is to install the weatherstripping on one side of the door. Measure from the piece of weather strip that you just applied to the threshold plate at the bottom of the door. Take these measurements and cut your piece of weather stripping. Once again put the weather strip against the door and secure it to the door stop the same way you did for the first piece. Now go ahead and do exactly the same thing for the other side of the door and install it in the same manner.

Now that you have all three pieces installed, you should go inside and close the door tightly. Check around the entire door for any daylight. If you can see any daylight at all peeking through, then go back outside, close and lock the door again and remove the screws in that area that you saw the light and push the stripping in a little harder, then simply put the screws back in again. Repeat this around the entire door until you no longer see daylight when inside looking out.