While it’s generally considered a good idea to have a certain amount of ventilation to promote good indoor air quality and to keep condensation away, it’s never a good idea to allow uncontrolled drafts in your home. Drafts of any description account for heat loss in any home, and they are also responsible for any discomfort. The addition of threshold seals is the best way to combat this problem—these are easy to install and they don’t usually require the use of any special tools or that the homeowner have any special knowledge. The first step here is to locate the drafts.
You need to look at the exterior doors first. Then you should turn you attention to those on the inside but only those that border on unsealed rooms like the door from the kitchen to a mudroom or one from a hallway to an unused bedroom. Running the flat of your hand along the bottom of the door will allow you to locate drafts. Dampening the skin will heighten your sensitivity to colder drafts. Once these drafts have been located, you’ll need to decide which type of threshold seal will best suit your purposes.
The simplest form of threshold seal is the one that has a flexible strip of plastic or rubber that sweeps against the floor to cover the gap and stop the draft. Another possibility is the long nylon bristle brush type seal that sits on the bottom of the door to stop the draft. There are various other kinds of seals that fit a bunch of different needs and the best solution for any exterior doors is to buy a kit containing an aluminum weatherproofing trim and a weather bar that’s fitted with a seal made of rubber or plastic.
The door that borders on the outside also has several options for what can be used as a weatherproofing agent, and the most straightforward seal is the self-adhesive foam strip which you stick around the doorjamb next to the stop. The cheaper foam will be good for one or two seasons and the better quality foams made or rubber or PVC will last longer.
Remember too that any door needs a small gap at the top and the sides so that it can operate smoothly. However, any gap can let a large amount of heat escape. Remember that any gap in the doors at your house will allow heat to escape and it’s a good idea to make sure that these spaces are filled and that the methods that you use to seal these gaps gets replaced at least once every few seasons.
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