Weatherstrip, front and back door, check.

I used the spring-bronze weatherstrip and I finally have doors that no longer show daylight around the edges or let cold air in. I’ve tried everything the past 8 years and none of it works as good as this weatherstripping.

It comes in a roll. I bought the flat 1 1/8″ wide weatherstripping by Frost King. One package did one door with very little to spare. You just nail it flat to the side of the door jam with the nail edge towards the inside of the house. Then you get under the side that isn’t nailed and lift it up so it stays away from the door jam a bit. The directions tell you to use a screw driver under it and run it back and forth to lift it out. I ended up using my hands to bend it out a bit. You don’t want to bend it totally, just enough to keep the non-nailed side to stick out enough that it will touch the door when closed. Because there were places on my doors around the door jam that had quite a bit of clearance, I pulled it out so it was sprung about 3/8 inch away from the door jam. When you close the door, it just pushes it back down and touches the door all around. You don’t want too much of a bend because it will cause a noticeable  noise when you open and close the door. Like metal popping. I fixed that by straightening out the bend a bit.

Around the locks and door knob I did some improvising. I saw online that they make something for that area but I didn’t want to mail order it. I just used foam to close off the area. Another problem area was the corners. I ended up cutting them a a 45 degree angle and then just stuck a hunk of foam in the corner to take up any open space.

Maybe it doesn’t look so perfectly neat and tidy but neither did all that foam (it doesn’t last very long) or felt weatherstripping. And who cares if it isn’t perfect if it stops all the wind from coming in and saves money. The door shuts solid now (no rattling!) after I tinkered with it to get the tension just so.

I bought out the 3 packages that were at Home Depot (Lowes didn’t carry it) and will use some on my double-hung windows. The 17 ft roll cost just under $8 at Home Depot.  I don’t know what brand it was but they said it was $9 for the same size roll. Valu Home Centers said they didn’t carry it (at least the 38th Street store in Erie.)

The directions were ridiculous!  Pictures that were so small and without detail that you couldn’t tell what you were suppose to do.  I went on line and looked at as many advertising for the stuff that I could to try and see it better.  It was really hard getting the metal started. The easiest way was with my electric brad nailer to hold the metal end in place. Then I used a hammer and used the nails provided The brads have small heads so I didn’t want to use those for the rest as I was afraid the metal may pull off over the head of the brads over time.

I may run a bead of clear caulk along the nailed edge just to make sure there is no air leakage. I’ll take a little sandpaper to any raw edges where I cut just to make sure they aren’t sharp and bent back the tips of the corners.  There is some drawback with it, though.  I have caught a loose sleeve on an edge that was cut near the deadbolt.  Maybe that is where the store bought stuff for that kind of thing may prove to be important.  If it was one continuous strip that couldn’t happen.
We have had some really windy storms lately and we don’t even hear the wind outside anymore.