Why and How To Prepare Exterior Doors for Winter

An exterior door that is not properly sealed can cause problems for you, especially in winter. Here are some reasons why sealing your doors is important, how you know that you need it, and what you can do with the help of a carpenter in Brantford to prepare them for winter.

Why You Need To Make Sure Your Doors Are Properly Sealed

If you have an older home, it can settle over time. This can change the way that the door fits in its opening and cause gaps to form around the frame. A new door is sealed with weather stripping, but over time, this can harden, crack, or peel away. Sometimes there is a gap between the bottom of the door and the floor that can cause problems, and if settlement occurs, it could widen the gap.

If you find that you have a hard time staying warm in the winter even with the heat going, you could be getting drafts from around your door. Because your furnace has to work harder to warm your home, air leaks could cause your utility bills to increase to an unmanageable level.

An improperly sealed door can continue to cause problems for you even after winter is over. The same energy-efficiency problem caused by air leaks can occur when you are running your air conditioner as when you are running your heater. Furthermore, insects that go dormant in the winter become active again as the weather warms up. If there are gaps or cracks around your door, it allows them entrances by which they can get inside the house.

How You Can Tell if Your Door Is Improperly Sealed

You may be able to tell that your door needs sealing if you feel a cold draft when you stand next to it. You can confirm by wetting your hand with water and running it along the door frame. If there are leaks, wet skin is more sensitive to cold outside air.

If a door allows air leaks, it usually also allows light to shine through the cracks. Therefore, you can test your door for leaks by standing inside the door during the day and looking for sunlight shining around the door. This is more effective if you make the interior of the room as dark as possible, e.g., pulling the shades if applicable.

Conversely, you can run a test at night whereby you ask someone else to shine a flashlight around the door frame and see if you can see any lights shining through. Another technique is to slowly pass a lit incense stick or candle along the door frame. If the door leaks, the flame will flicker in the direction that the air is moving.

How a Carpenter in Brantford Can Help You Prepare Your Exterior Door for Winter

A carpenter can assess the nature of the issue with your door. If there are gaps or cracks around the door, a carpenter can close them off by filling them with caulk. If the weather stripping is old and worn out, a carpenter can replace it.

A door sweep is a hard rubber strip with thick bristles attached. When applied to the bottom of your door, it helps to close off the gap, blocking a lot of the air that may be leaking from under the door and making it more difficult for insects to get inside. An improperly installed door sweep cannot perform its job adequately, but a carpenter can install it correctly.

If the door is older, it may no longer fit in the frame due to warping or settlement of the house. In this scenario, a carpenter can install a new door.

Carpentry is just one of the repair services in Brantford we offer at Handyman Connection. Find out all the ways we can help you around the house.