Anyone done this? Our inner porch door has gaps between the frame and the door. Fitting foam strips to the closing face of the frame would stop the door latching and I think would make the door hard to close.
I think a copper strip would be the best solution for me but it’s moderately expensive so just asking for experience before I order some up. Are there better or cheaper alternatives?
Have you checked the adjustment of the hinges, latch and striking plate? I did something similar with foam, only to discover that I could close the gap by just adjusting the door mechanism - tweaking the striking plate pulled in the (UPVC) door in more tightly against the gasket.
Theo
No adjustments. Wooden door and frame. I have replaced the mortice bolt as the old one was very floppy and let the door rattle. Still leaves a gap that drafts can get through.
Tim
I have just fitted V seal, and it seems pretty good.
I have used it for years - I've always known it as Atomic Strip - AKA 'proper copper' draught excluder, except that I believe it's phosphor-bronze; no matter. My parents used it on a house in the early
1950's so it's been around a long time. Comes with a pack of small brass pin-nails, and a little wheel tool for raising it once the strip is in place. It's effective at bridging gaps around older wooden doors and frames where the gap is too large for adhesive foam strip. No good for modern PVC though - the door and frames must be wood. I've just done a couple of doors in a church schoolroom where our local Archive is housed, to keep out draughts and hopefully cut down heating costs a little.Instructions are provided.
It's a bit of a pain to nail up - literally - the strip is dimpled along one edge, every inch (2.54 cm for the imperially challenged) where you're supposed to put the nails. But holding the strip, and the small nail, in one hand and hitting the nail with a pin hammer in a restricted space is not so easy. It does get easier once you've hit your fingers a few times and developed a knack, and a few sore fingers to boot. Holding the pins in pliers helps, and doing top, middle and bottom on the first run, then spacing the nails at say twelve inches, then filling in every six inches, then every three, and so on until it's all done.
Then you run the little wheel tool up one side and it raises the strip so that it fills the gap (or it's supposed to - requires quite a lot of pressure and running over the same strip several times). I finish off by simply prizing up the edge with my fingers where needed.
When it's in place, you do get a slight scraping noise from the latch side as the door closes and opens, but on the hinge side it just presses quietly on the spring-loaded strip. You can nail the strip to either the side jambs or the edge of the door, whichever you prefer, but make sure you get it the right way round, especially on the latch side. I also found it much easier to nail it across the top of the door rather than the underside of the head jam - holding the strip in place, holding the nail and wielding the hammer all upside down is tricky - let gravity take the strain.
A minor problem - if the strip isn't raised quite far enough in places to make firm contact with the door when it closed, and you get a strong gale blowing onto that side of the house, the strip can behave like the reed in a wind instrument and emit a ghostly wail. Scares hell out of the pets!
Be warned that those copper strip draught excluders can become a wonderful [un]musical instrument. We had one some years ago and in strong winds it produced a very loud horn sort of noise. The first time it happened it was terrifying until we realised what it was!
Thanks, that definitely looks worth a punt in our door frame.
Tim
Thanks for all that. Think I might try the V Seal mentioned in another reply first.
Tim
Looks good, much the same principle, a lot easier to apply, OK for PVC doors and frames by the look of it and cheaper. As it happened, I had a couple of spare rolls of Atomic Strip in my bits-box, bought many years ago, that I was glad to use up on the schoolroom doors and see the back of, so cost me nothing to do and the expenditure in the past is lost in the mists of time...
I've never tried one of these:
I meant Do they work?
What are those bristly things called that are fitted on the bottom of doors. I guess if that does not work a kind of very long windscreen wiper blade material might work. Brian
Trouble is doors seem to twist or warp and then whatever you adjust it makes something else not work. In my case I can stop the draught, but then the bottom pin won't allow the handle to be pulled up for locking it so I had to remove the plate altogether. Brian
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