Doors can be significant areas of energy loss in a home. Many homes have a front door, a back door and a door from an attached garage. When you total up the perimeter length of the doors, you can see how poor-fitting weatherstripping can be a major factor. Front doors and back doors also often [...]

Doors can be significant areas of energy loss in a home. Many homes have a front door, a back door and a door from an attached garage. When you total up the perimeter length of the doors, you can see how poor-fitting weatherstripping can be a major factor. Front doors and back doors also often have windows which have low insulation value.

Before attempting any improvements to the doors, carefully inspect each door, especially the wood front door. If the wood is deteriorated or warped, there really is not much you can do but replace it with a new one. Steel or fiberglass doors seldom warp, so they generally can be repaired and upgraded for better energy efficiency.

On a windy day, hold a stick of lighted incense near the weatherstripping and move it around the door perimeter. The trail of smoke will indicate the locations of leaky areas. They may be in just a couple of spots or along one side, so you will not have to replace all the weatherstripping.

Push on the door with your hand to force it tighter against the weatherstripping and then check with the incense again. The striker plate in the door frame can get worn over time. If you are lucky, the only problem is that the door not closing tightly enough to create a good seal. This is most commonly found on the latch side of the door.

The easiest solution to this problem is to remove the old striker plate in the door frame and install an adjustable one. There are two basic designs. One design (Door-Tite) is a die cast plate with staggered teeth cast into the hole area. When the door closes, the latch will catch on the tooth that holds it most tightly to the weatherstripping.

Another design (Mag Security) uses a two-piece striker plate with detents on the flat surface. One piece fits against the door frame where your old striker plate was mounted. The second piece fits into the door latch, contacts and then locks, and it can be adjusted over the first piece to hold the door tightly closed.

If the doors are old, it would be wise to replace the threshold seal, and perhaps the entire threshold, under the door. Most newer doors have the weatherstripping seal attached to the door bottom, but with some older ones the seal is in the threshold on the floor. This can get damaged and crushed after years of foot traffic over it.

Most thresholds are adjustable. There are usually three or four screws which allow you to move the section immediately under the door up or down. The screw heads may be covered and packed with dirt from years of use, so you might have to pick around to find them. Adjust the threshold up a little to see if that reduces the draft.

If you choose to install a new efficient threshold seal underneath the door, you will have to remove the door from the hinges. The new seal will likely be thicker, so you will have to saw a thin strip off the door bottom for clearance. This is fine for a wood or fiberglass door, but you will not be able to do this on a steel door. For a steel door, consider installing an automatic door bottom seal which moves down to touch the threshold just as the door closes.

Old worn hinges can also cause sealing problems. These allow the door to hang crooked so the weatherstripping will not seal well. Most home center stores carry an array of hinge sizes which fit almost any door.

The glass in doors is the lowest insulation component. Make a storm pane, using clear acrylic plastic, to cover the glass in the door. This will almost double the insulation value and protect the decorative door glass from the weather.

If you can easily remove the door molding, check to see if there is insulation in the gap around the door frame. If you find none, spray expanding foam insulation in the gap. Wait until it fully expands and hardens before replacing the molding.

The following companies offer door improvement products: Door-Tite, (513) 891-0210; Mag Security, (800) 950-9058; M-D Building Products, (800)526-5265; Pemko Manufacturing, (800)283-9988; and Thermwell, (800)526-5265.

Send inquiries to James Dulley, Michigan Country Lines, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.