WEATHERSTRIPPING Be sure to get seal of approval on door frames

Adjustable weatherstripping is best because houses can shift.
By JAMES and MORRIS CAREY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Every year, as winds pick up and cold weather begins, we try to dedicate at least one article to winterizing and protecting the home against Mother Nature.
With today's technology, you don't have to be an experienced construction worker to guarantee yourself and your family a more than reasonable degree of comfort without paying excessively for it. Winterizing your home is far less expensive than the heating costs for a leaky house.
Even the tightest-closing exterior door might be letting in too much cold air. Have you looked under your front door lately? Or the one that opens to the back yard? Did you know that the door to your garage in most cases is an exterior door?
The weatherstripping around the rest of the door is just as important as the seal at the bottom. Check all weatherstripping at all exterior openings, and be sure not to forget the bottom of each exterior door.
As a house moves, everything connected to it shifts position. You know what we mean if you've ever had a door that rubs at the top or has such a large gap that you can put a fist through it. When this happens to windows and exterior doors, leaks occur. And a door doesn't have to look like it has shifted to be leaking. An eighth-inch gap at the bottom of a door is all it takes.
The prime spot
Why do we keep referring to the bottom of the door? Because that's where most exterior doors allow in the most cold air. That is why most door bottoms are fitted with adjustable weatherstripping. Granted, there are all kinds of combinations of weatherstripping devices that can be fitted to the bottom of the door, but the kind we like the best is the one that can be adjusted.
The reason is simple: Houses move as seasons change. And when what keeps the air out is adjustable, the house can move all it wants without consequence. When the weather begins to get cold, loosen a few screws, adjust the shoe on the bottom of the door to lie snugly along the threshold, and retighten the screws. If you invest 10 minutes per door on two or three doors, you'll save energy dollars and avoid discomfort.
Some thresholds incorporate a flexible rubber strip that acts to seal the underside of the door when it closes. We think these are bad; they can't be adjusted. Our recommendation is to have any such threshold replaced with the type we suggest. You say your house doesn't move, that it's on sand -- and there is no leak. OK, if that's the case, keep what you've got. But don't forget to change the gasket when it begins to wear out.
Some say the best kind of weatherstripping is the interlocking type. We agree. It is the very best but also is the most expensive. The bad thing about interlocking weatherstripping is that it relies on a quarter-inch wide groove all the way around the door. If a shift of an eighth of an inch or more occurs, the door no longer will operate properly and, in some instances, simply won't close. This condition will have you making adjustments more often than you'd like.
Don't get stuck
Do yourself a favor. Use only weatherstripping that snaps, screws or nails into place. The stick-on kind doesn't last and is a mess to remove. Wouldn't you rather make minor adjustments occasionally than make a major alteration every cold season?
To test whether your door bottom is leaking, have someone go outside with a flashlight at night. Have him shine the light through the bottom of the door. If you can see the light, your door-bottom weatherstripping needs adjustment. And don't forget the candle trick. Hold it next to the door edge on a windy day. Blow out the flame and hold the smoking candle next to the gap all around the door. Then watch the smoke.
XFor more home-improvement tips and information visit www.onthehouse.com on the Web.