The Green Parent

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Weatherproofing 101: Doors

by Mark Furst, Grading Spaces

Most issues with doors are due to gasket problems, either missing pieces or the door itself being poorly adjusted and not hitting the gasket right. A common leak point is at the top corners where the vertical and horizontal gaskets don’t meet up accurately and leaves a gap. Often, I find that the latch of the door isl oose and I’m not able to pull the door tight up to the gasket. Sometimes this assembly can be simply tightened, other times it makes sense just to install a new latching mechanism as cheaper latches tend to loosen up internally. Cats and dogs can be hard on a gasket if they claw at it. A simple fix I have done to my own back door is to stick a foam strip to the door that hits the existing gasket and seals up any voids in it. This is simpler and cheaper than replacing the gasket itself, just make sure not to use a foam that is too stiff to allow the door to close properly.

The threshold at the bottom of the door is an area that often leaks. Many quality doors have adjustable thresholds that can be raised or lowered to touch the door and create a seal, but is sometimes not adjusted after installation. If the door does not have this, the fix can be a bit more involved. Simply sticking a gasket to the bottom of the door will fail quickly. Usually the best fix is to install a sweep strip on the inside of the door that touches the back of the threshold. These usually have oval slots so you can slope the sweep to accommodate for doors that were installed out of square, or a floor that’s not level.

If the gasket at the bottom of the door is failing, sometimes the culprit is the hinges and their attachment to the framing itself. With the door open, push on the edge of the door towards the hinges. IF there is any movement, the hinges screws need to be tightened. Sometimes inexperienced door installers will not run a screw through the hinge and jamb (frame) and then on into the framing which holds the door in place much more securely than the screws only in the jamb. Occasionally, the screws will be stripped out and need replacing. Getting the next screw size up usually can work, just make sure that the screw head will fit flush into the hinge or else it will not allow the door to close completely.

Sometimes I find an interior door being used as an exterior one. This will be very inefficient, both thermally (it will be uninsulated) and airwise (gaskets will, typically, not be adequate) and if you have this, I would recommend replacement rather than trying to fix it up. The best exterior steel or fiberglass doors can be very efficient with R values up to R15, which is comparable to the walls into which they are installed.

As with windows, the area around the unit can be as leaky as the unit itself. Check the gap between the jamb and the framing. It should be filled with low expansion foam to prevent air movement.