Tips to Reduce Heating Costs: Weatherstripping

You want to use weatherstripping to seal air leaks around parts of your home that move, like doors and windows. Weatherstripping fills gaps, i.e. between a door and it’s frame, to block air from moving through the gap.

Note: Many people think only those who live in cold weather need to be concerned about weatherstripping. People in warm climates also need weatherstripping, to keep from losing cooled air to the outside.

Here’s a quick checklist to finding the right weatherstripping for your home. For more information, visit The US Dept of Energy’s, A Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency.

• Determine which doors and windows have gaps leaking air.
• Calculate the linear feet needed to cover all 4 sides of each door/window you want to cover.
• Assess the weather, temperature changes and wear (friction) that weatherstripping will be exposed to, i.e. the bottom of a door will have more wear than a window. You also need to choose a material that allows the door/window to open freely once closed.
• Decide which type of weatherstripping you want to use. Here are the most common ones:
  • Inexpensive - felt and open-cell foam are easy to apply but won’t hold up to weather.
  • Vinyl - slight more expensive but holds up well and resists moisture.
  • Metal - last for years and you can find them to match existing door hardware, i.e. we often put metal kickplates on doors with high traffic (most interesting job we did was stainless steel at a business equipment company where they pushed carts through doors, which did lots of damage and we solved that with 2 ft tall kick plates.)
• Clean and dry surface before applying weatherstripping.
• Always measure twice, cut once when doing any type of home maintenance.
• Apply weatherstripping snugly against both surfaces (temperature should be above 20°F (-7° C). The material should compress when the window or door is shut.