How to Weatherstrip a Door
You guys! I am so excited to bring you my first post as a member of the Ace Blogger Panel!
This post could alternately be called “what not to do to weatherstrip a door” because Chris and I had to undo lots of “what nots” left behind by previous owners. But don’t worry, I am also going to show you the right way to easily weatherstrip your door.
I shouldn’t laugh too much at the people who came before and weatherstripped this door, because I am pretty sure Chris and I didn’t do the best job of it in our last home (sorry, new owners!). But back then, I didn’t know they had these easy, all inclusive Kerf Fitted Compression Door kits from Ace Hardware for doors!
Each kit comes with 3 pieces that fit right into your door frame easily; there are two 81″ pieces (one of those is magnetic), and one shorter piece for the top of the door. These kits cost only $19.99. I am fairly certain our oil bill this winter has been…. um…. scary. So I consider this $20 well spent if it can help us lower our energy bills!
Chris and I had been talking about weatherstripping the doors for a while, and with this crazy winter we’ve had, it was finally time to get our butts in gear. Case in point… here is what the front door looked like the morning we completed this project after receiving a foot of snow.
Luckily though, we had a 45 degree day we did the weatherstripping! And then it was back to 20 the very next. #truth
Now let’s talk about the actual process. These pieces easily pop right in to your frame, if your frame has not been previously weather proofed. Let me show you what WE were working with….
Here you can see the old thin and flimsy weather stripping which had sort of dried out, along with some fuzzy stuff. Fuzzy stuff that was NAILED to the door frame. We aren’t really sure if they used carpet padding or what that is.
And here is the other side of the same door, showing the same thing.
Check out what the fuzzy carpet padding make shift weather stripping did to the paint on the door. Because every door should have a little texture, right?
GROSS!
And now, let me show you what we’ve been living with for over a year…. dangling, broken, cracked weather stripping in the kitchen door. Come on in! Try not to hit your head or poke your eye out with weatherstripping from 1985!
The hardest part of this project was honestly removing what the previous owners had done. We (and by we, I mean Chris) had to muscle it out. We had to use a putty knife to loosen it up because we are pretty sure they had painted over it several times, and it was stuck in place. Once Chris loosened it up, he was able to pull it out. When it was out, the groove where the new stripping would go became clear. You can see the space here to the right of the fuzzy stuff.
We then followed the simple steps on the package, starting with the hinge side of the door frame with our piece os stripping (the non-magnetic one). We started by inserting at the very top and pushing it in as we worked out way down. Once we got to the bottom, we trimmed off the excess with a utility knife. You can really see the difference below- the new Ace weather stripping is much thicker and will protect so much better.
After we completed our hinge side, we worked from the top corner of the hinge side and pressed the shorter piece into the groove in our frame. We worked from hinge side to non-hinge side pressing it in the whole way. Again, we trimmed the excess with our utility knife. Here’s how your corner should look.
Finally, we started in the last corner and worked out way down. This side was the one that used the magnetic. The magnetism helps it grab onto our steel door for better seal.
Notice how the light comes into the house from this direction. Well, below you can see the gab between the door and the frame, and guess what? No light peeks through which shows me it is sealed. 
Oh, and check it out! We were able to remove all of the fuzzy stuff. Chris had to use a pair of needle nosed pliers to pull out each nail. The fuzz disintegrated a bit and is probably toxically covering my lungs now. But the door looks much better.
This is one happy and non-drafty door!
When all was said and done we weatherstripped 3 doors- the front door (seen above), the side door we use most often and our basement door.
Now, how about a giveaway for you!!! One lucky reader will win a $100 gift card to Ace! It’s easy! Just follow the prompt on the rafflecopter widget below!
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I am a member of the Ace Bloggers Panel and Ace Hardware has provided with the products used within this project. I was also compensated for my time and this blog post. All opinions and positions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Ace Hardware
