Our laundry room door opens to the garage. We recently noticed that time created a gap at the bottom that allowed light, and gawd knows what else to come through!
I did a lot of reading and research to decide which product my husband should use to repair this problem.
Things We Had to Consider:
- It's a metal door and being a door to the garage, it's a fire door.
- Products we could DIY
- However, feel free to double-check and get a professional opinion on the best products to use with a fire door. We're happy with the product we selected.
- Affordability
- Easy to install
Information We Needed Before We Decided on the Best Product:
- The depth and width of the door
- A close measurement of how big the open gap is at the bottom of the door (between the floor and the door)
- To choose a fire-rated product
- Something that was affordable and that we could do ourselves
Allow Me To Save You Some Time:
I researched for hours to find what we thought would be the best product to solve our problem.
The biggest problem was the endless number of products to choose from!
We chose two products for our exterior door:
- U-Shaped Door Bottom with Drip Cap (To fit a 1(3/4)" door width)
- Door Draft Stopper for Exterior/Interior Doors - Weather Stripping Door Sweep. Here's the one we purchased from Amazon Canada. Here's a similar product on Amazon USA - It's not the exact same, but very close.
1. The U-Shaped Door Bottom:
This product also comes with a door sweep on it. The benefit for us is that it helped fill in the gap at the bottom of the door.
It also has a "drip cap." We really didn't need a drip cap since our door is in the garage and not exposed to the elements; however, I preferred the extra coverage the drip cap provided. Plus, it looks nice.
This product slides onto the bottom of the door but needs to be secured with the enclosed screws. You'll need a drill for that.
Our door depth measured 1(3/4)," and the u-shaped door bottom slid on perfectly.
Our door is 30" wide, and the product comes as one whole piece measuring 36" wide.
My husband cut the metal piece to fit our door using a Dremel Tool with a cutting disk. Hubby said you could also use a hacksaw.
His tip is to be sure to measure the width correctly (double-check it) before you begin cutting.
Here's what a Dremel tool looks like:
Here's a close-up of the cutting disks:
2. Door Draft Stopper for Exterior/Interior Doors
This product is pretty easy to put on the door. My hubby's tip is to ensure the door is clean before putting it on. The product sticks on, so it only makes sense that you'll want to have a good clean surface.
You'll have to cut it to fit your door.
Here are the easy instructions indicated on the box that came with our product:
Here are a few photos of our actual door - which badly needs painting!
 |
| This is the Metal Slide On Door Sweep - View from the Outside of the Door |
 |
| This is the weather guard on the inside of the door |
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
FOLLOW US ON:
