|
The cold weather is coming if you live in a Northern State like me. As I looked towards my front door, I noticed that the seal under it has weathered to the point of not creating a good seal. On top of that, the rubber sweep has cracked and has bent in half.
Every time I open my front door, the bent sweep would catch on the small rug in front of the door. This, obviously, is not good. It’s time to repair this ten year old door and replace the door sweep with a new one.
I headed to my local hardware store to find a new sweep to attach to my front door.
|
|
I’m looking for something that can attach right to the bottom of the door and become a weather tight seal that closes off the gap between the bottom of the door and the threshold.
I headed to my local hardware store to find a vinyl sweep in a white color that would match my painted steel door. I found one that looked like it would be simple enough to install. |
|
|
1. Remove the Door:
There are several ways to remove your door. One way is the simple way. Pop the pins out of the hinges. A screw driver and a hammer should be able to help with this. I however, had a great deal of difficulty removing the door by the hinges. I took it to plan B.
I had to unscrew the hinge plate from the door itself. This is obviously not the best way to do it, but I really had no choice. Removing the door is a two person job so make sure you have someone there to help.
|
|
2. Problem Revealed:
Once the door is removed, turn it on its side to reveal the damaged part. You can see the rubber piece is coming off of the bottom of the door. The plastic that snaps into the underside of the door has been bent and no longer stays in place. Because of this, cold air and insects were making themselves welcome in my foyer any time they pleased.
|
|
|
|
3. Remove the Old Door Sweep:
Now that I can see the extent of the damage, it is clear that we need to remove the old, broken sweep. This pulls off rather easily, especially since it is already cracked.
I just grabbed the loose end, and pulled the whole thing off. Once you get it off, you can clean out the bottom of the door. I had some dirt and spiderwebs caught in there. |
| 4. Get the Sweep:
With the door prepped to receive the new sweep, you can get ready to attach it. Prop up the door so you can access the inside face of it.
Remove the sweep from its plastic wrapping. You will need a drill to create holes for the included screws. If the sweep is longer than the door width, we’ll cut the piece to fit later.
|
|
|
|
5. Attach the Sweep:
Place the sweep on the end of the door and you can line up one end so that it is even with the edge of the door.
Take a drill with a small bit and drill holes in the door at each of the holes on the sweep.
|
| 6. Finishing the Edge:
Once you’ve drilled all the holes into the door, you can screw in all of the screws to secure the sweep to the door. The front side of the sweep should snap into the door to secure the front of the sweep.
In this case, you notice that the sweep extends about a 3/4" past the edge of the door. |
|
|
|
7. The Proper Width:
To finish the edge, I simply took a saw and gently cut off the overlapping edge of the sweep. I took a small grained piece of sandpaper to clean up the edge since the vinyl will fray a bit when you cut it.
Once this piece matches the door exactly, it will fit securely on the door and easily snap into place in the front.
|
|
7. Re-attach your Door:
Once the door is repaired, all you have to do is re-attach it. Again, this is a two person job, so have someone hold the door in place while you insert the pins back in the hinges…In my case, it was me screwing the screws back into the hinge plate.
You can now close your door.
|
|
The new sweep is definately keeping out the bugs and the cold air. I added some extra weather stripping pads to the edges of the jambs on each side. This relatively simple door fix should help decrease the heating bills this winter, because cold air was just flowing under the door last year.
|
