Door Weather Stripping (August 19, 2001):

How much cold air comes in around your doors? Now is the time to check your doors and windows for good weather strip. One way to check your doors is to take a dollar bill, put it in the doorjamb and close the door. Now try to pull the dollar out, if it pulls out without much effort you need to replace the weather strip. I like to use a dollar because with worn out weather strips; you are letting dollars go right through your doors and windows. You can also do this with your refrigerator door. Always check it in several places on both sides of the door and the top & bottom. If your weather strip needs replaced, bring a sample in to Home Hardware (if it’s for your refrigerator, take the brand and model number with you to an appliance store). A lot of newer doors are steel doors and have a magic weather strip. For some of the older wood doors, you may be able to get one of several generic weather strips like foam, felt, or round bead. The one I like the best is V seal. It’s a thin plastic that you fold into a v, and it has glue on one side that you glue right to the doorjamb. The door closes against the v forming a tight seal. This type of weather strip will allow the door to latch properly and it will not cause it to jam or open or close incorrectly. While you are at it, check the threshold at the bottom of the doorframe and make sure that rubber weather strip is not worn out. If it is, you need to do the same thing and take a sample of it to the hardware store. There are so many different kinds and brands of weather strip that you must have a sample. Do this now and save money on your heating and air-conditioning bills.