If you’re tired of replacing foam seals around your doors each year, learn how to weatherproof doors permanently with external instead in-frame seals. You’ll need a door strip to weatherproof the bottom of your door, and a strip of profiled wood molding that comes with a white vinyl clad foam seal, to seal the side of your door. (Alternatively, you can attach vinyl clad foam seal to profiled molding yourself.)
Steps to Weatherproof Your Doors Permanently With External Seals:
Selecting the Right Door Strip
To weatherproof doors on the bottom use a door strip that attaches to the surface of the door. You’ll need to sweep out debris below the door strip occasionally, but the strip itself will last a long time. There are many weatherproof door strips on the market which can be confusing. Select one equal or just a little longer than the width of your door. Take the measurement of the door on the bottom, as the weather-poof seal will attach there.
If you don’t want the hassle of taking your door off the hinges, select a weatherproof doors strip like the one I used (see picture). The strip fitted beneath the door, but the attachment fit on the surface of the door. Though the screws are exposed, they are barely noticeable, and they can be painted for complete concealment. You can attach this weatherproof seal to the bottom of your door in a couple of minutes.
Cutting the Wood Weatherproof Seal
Elegant wood strips with vinyl clad foam seals attached to their sides can be found at your home improvement store along with all the other weatherproofing materials for doors. Though marketed for patio doors, those wood strips can fit over the door you wish to weatherproof. The seal will then overlap the doorjamb and seal any gaps.
Place the long weatherproof wood strip next to your door and mark where it should be cut down to size. I used my electric saw, and it cut through the vinyl clad foam beautifully.
Create Your Own Wood Weatherproof Door Seal
If you can’t find a weatherproof door seal, you can create one yourself. Buy elegant wood molding and a roll of the vinyl clad foam strip. Attach the edge of the strip to the wood using liquid nails and allow the glue to dry before you proceed with weatherproofing the door.
Attach the Wood Weatherproof Seal
You can use headless nails to attach the wood weatherproof seal over your door without leaving hardware marks behind. Just fill in the hole with wood putty and you’re done. Be sure to make the wood weatherproof seal as long as the door, so it overlaps the door strip weatherproof seal on the bottom.
Paint the Weatherproof Hardware
Now blend the weatherproof hardware into the door by painting the wood the exact color as the door itself. The vinyl seal is white, so it’s best if the door is painted white and the wood also.
