Sealing an old wooden front door

[cf-leeds]

Just looking for some advice on how best to draft-proof my original wooden front door. It's the original 1930s door with the oval stained glass, which I don't want to replace, as it looks great. It's pretty drafty though in winter.

There seem to be countless products out there, but I'm struggling to know which is the most effective.

The door needs to be sealed by closing flat against something that's attached to the outer frame. An inner door frame perimeter seal won't work in this case, due to the uneven gap around the door. I seem to remember seeing some seal a long time ago with a sprung brush in a U shaped frame. I'm not sure what they're called though.

Not looking for waterproofing, as there's an overhang above the door, so no direct rain arrives at the door.

Thanks in advance for any advice on the most suitable products.

c.

[The Natural Philosopher]

pukka foam rubber (not foam plastic) is pretty good.

That may not be possible at the base and there you may need to try something else

ther are also tubular rubber type seals that work well.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

cf-leeds presented the following explanation :

I live in a high windy part of the country, so we used to have problems.

Until I replaced my outer doors some years ago, I had success with a thin plastic lip seal, which you pinned with stainless pins to the outer edge of the frame. It was visible from the outside, on the frame, with the door closed. It didn't come as a roll, as many do, it came in rigid door lengths, supplied with the pins. I cannot find a link to it.

Prior to that, I fitted a copper strip seal, which again fitted with stainless tacks, but onto the frame at the door edge, so hidden with door closed. You tacked one edge of the copper, the untacked hedge was free to bend out to form the seal. That was also very effective, but soon wore out with the abrasion of a the door being frequently used.

[Chris Hogg]

Atomic strip. My parents used it in the 1950's; I used it on my first and second houses, 20 years in each. Never had any problems, with the one caveat that when the wind blew strongly from a particular direction, the strip behaved as a reed in a wind instrument and wailed in ghostlike fashion. Drove the cats mad!

[charles]

It's still on the dors in this house, having been fitted by the previous owners 40+ years ago.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Chris Hogg pretended :

That's it. Yes I had forgotten the unearthly wailing noises :-)

[Brian Gaff]

Our door is physically warped and has obvious signes of being broken into, ie Gemmy marks, but it is otherwise quite nice. We have had a porch fitted with upvc door, but I'd also like to restore the inner one and have it fit properly, but I looked at this some years ago and could not find anything remotely suitable other than to remove door and frame and fit a new one. sigh. Brian

[Andrew]

We had those in our house in South Wales back in the 50's and 60's.

Extreme windy weather made the copper strips 'sing' as they vibrated.