How to Seal a Door: Helpful Hints from Lincoln Tech

There are always ways to cut your energy bills and make your home more efficient – and many are simple do-it-yourself fixes that don’t require a lot of time or money!  Here, a certified Master HVAC Educator from Lincoln Tech’s Mahwah campus shows you how to seal a door so the heat stays in, and drafts stay out as the temperature drops!

Lincoln Tech Instructor Shows How to Seal a Door

Hi, I'm Mark Urscheler. I'm a certified Master HVAC Educator here at Lincoln Tech's Mahwah campus.

We’re here today to show you some simple ways that any homeowner can reduce heat loss from their house, save on their energy bills, and make their house more comfortable. Typically, one of the greatest heat losses from any home is the doors, usually due to the door seals going bad over time.

Any door is easy to check. The door seal is right here – in between where the door and the door frame meet. So on a windy day, you could feel breezes coming in. You could use a lighter with the door closed, go around, and if the seal is bad, you'll see the lighter flame flickering. All you have to do, you can pick up weather sealing that's made for doors at any home center, hardware store, very simple to hook up. You're just gonna peel off, stick them on the back.

It then gets applied to the door frame where the door closes up against the frame. It will then seal the door to the frame and the air can't get past. It's said by the Department of Energy that about a third of our energy loss [is typically due to] windows and doors. Another place where doors typically leak, is where the bottom of the door meets the door saddle. You can walk into almost any house [and] feel the air blowing underneath there.

A lot of times you can see even some dust that's on the floor getting blown along. Again, any home center, very easy to install. Any homeowner can do it. Metal strip with a piece of rubber on it. All you have to do is attach it to the bottom of the door, you cut it to size, and make sure that the rubber strip is flat against the saddle. Any wind then cannot come in.

Obviously, it either gets screwed or nailed into the door, your choice. And as the door opens, it moves out of the way. As the door closes, again, it retains that position and reseals that space under your door.

How to seal a door to your garage

If you have a garage, possibly heated garage, you like to work out there in the winter, they also make a simple door seal for your door. Again, you would take this (not on this type of door) lift the garage door up, and all you would do is attach this to the bottom of the door. You can nail it on, you can glue it on, and as the door comes down, it will then compress this and seal that space that you normally find between the door and the bottom of the door.

(Video transcription by Speechpad)