Winter Proof Outer Doors
The first line of defense is the doors that open to the outside of your house. Seal these up by means of a storm door and a sealing application. Air is an element that seeps through nearly microscopic seams and holes. That means you must completely cover or fill all existing minute places where air will infiltrate. This includes around the doors that are exposed to the outside. This will be the front and back doors but also if you have any other doors that open from the basement, porch, deck and patio. Leave no door untouched.
Just as with weatherproofing the windows of your house you should seal up all the tiny spaces of the doors around the casing, frame and well. The door casing is the outer most part of the supporting structure of the door, where the outer edges touch building material of the adjacent walls. The casing is on the outside as well as the inside. The door frame is generally considered the outer perimeter of the door itself and perhaps skeletal cross sections that holds the door together. The door well is the inner area of the casing where the door pivots open and close. The door well also, like the window well, has a sill at the bottom on the outer side of the threshold. The storm door is an excellent insulator, especially when installed efficiently, because it forms an insulating air pocket between the main door just as what a storm or double-paned window does for a window of the home.
What you mainly want to accomplish is to block air from moving into or out of the home from more places than the designated air circulation system. This will include your chimney, furnace and attic vents. Air does need to be recycled through the house all year long, even during winter. Bad and stale air is bad for the health. Remember, balance is the key to perhaps all things. So it would be good to have your chimney checked out, furnace serviced and your attic vents inspected before winter sets in. This will make your door winterizing project more substantial.
Now to do the job well you need to note a few things. Count how many doors you have that lead to the outside and then measure the gaps and seams around the casings and molding, well and frame, and the thresholds. Be sure to measure the outside and inside casing and molding of the all doors. You will be sealing both sides. Also when you measure it would be good to follow what industry experts say to do, measure twice and execute once. This will almost always insure accuracy. Keep measurements of each door separate and note the measurements of each part. A mini diagram drawing may make this a lot easier. What you want to do now is put on your shopping shoes, its time to get busy!
On your shopping list you will have outdoor caulking or caulking for both indoors and outdoors, weather-stripping (foam for hinge-side of door wells and aluminum backed rubber for the perimeter of the door well), the proper glue for the place of application (weather for metal or wood etc.), and door sweeps (buy as close to the size of each door for all thresholds). If a door swings open away from the house buy a sweep that fits on the outside of the door. If a door swings into the house buy a sweep that fits on the inside of the door. Buy sweeps according to how each particular door opens to the outside. Check on the package to determine on which side of the door you fit the sweep. Also purchase tin snips, if you do not already have any, for the metal door sweeps. A screwdriver or power screwdriver will be used for the door sweep. Purchase a very narrow, perhaps flexible, instrument for spreading the caulking along seams as well as WD-40 to prevent the caulking from sticking to it. Yes, make a list and check it twice. Now where have I heard that before? Hmm.
Once you get back from the store gather your scissors, tin snips, a plastic knife or a flexible pen-width spatula (for spreading the caulking), WD-40 (for spraying the spreading instruments for a less sticky application), a utility knife and a waste basket (for a clean as you go project). Grab a screwdriver or power screwdriver for fastening the door sweeps.
Starting with outside of the front door caulk the casing where it touches the building material of the wall. The caulk any seams around the molding. You would not believe how much air can seep around and through the molding into your home. Smooth the caulking about every 6-12 inches at a time in a parallel line along the seams. Continue doing this along each seam until the entire length of the seam is fully caulked. Now go back and check for small gaps between the spread caulking and the adjacent building material. If there are gaps apply more caulking at those spots. Working around the outside do this to every door of the house. Seams that are more than 1/4 inch wide should require repairing. Let it be known that sealing a door that needs serious repairs does not solve a problem and may not allow a good seal. Again do all of this work, or have it done, in mid fall or else late fall before the winter weather sets in. Just like time, winter waits for no man, or woman.
Now move on to the inside of the doors. Most rubber weather-stripping should be fastened over a bead of caulking on the side of the door that faces the inside of the house. Most main doors that open to the outside swing into the house, thus you would place the stripping on the inside of the door. If the door happens to swing out from the house, place the stripping on the outside of the bottom of the door. Fasten the proper door sweep (cutting it to size if needed) to the bottom of the front door making sure that it does indeed sweep (by touch) across the surface of the floor. Just touching the threshold will not provide an adequate seal. The sweep should rest firmly, not just touch, onto the threshold when the door is shut. Squeeze a bead of caulking along the line where the door sweep will be installed before it is screwed to the door. This adds extra insulation around the sweep. Finally spread caulking to seal up gaps that may be around the casing and between the adjacent molding. Repeat this process with all the doors that lead to outside.
Then move on to the door frame where there is a seam formed between the door and the door well while the door is closed. Glue the proper size weather-stripping to the hinge side of the door well where the outer edge of the door stops when it is closed. The stripping should be placed so that the door squeezes against it when it is closed. It should also nearly line up with the rubber stripping that you will install to all four sides of the door well, where the closed door should touch it. It should be fastened to the well where when the door is closed it presses firmly against the rubber stripping. Now you should have successfully winter proofed your doors like a pro. They say when one door closes another one opens, but I hope that when your door does close, that one that opens will be one that invites warm and passionate family and friends that will make your winter one of comfort and a secure future.
