Sealing Window & Door Leaks – A Basic Guide

The beginning of autumn and winter is usually the time when people think about heating and the bills that come as a result of that. However, it’s a good time to implement leak protection measures at any time of year to get the most out of your heating and cooling. The way in which we heat the rooms and the selection of energy are major decisions (both in financial and technical terms) that we had to make and implement before autumn in order to ensure that our home is warm during the winter period. In addition to these major decisions there is another important thing that we can do in order to avoid or reduce the high heating bills to some extent.

The cheapest and easiest way to prevent uncontrolled heat leakage is the sealing of windows and doors. According to some statistics, people can reduce their bills depending on the state of your windows and doors. What is interesting is that we have a similar situation during the summer because we need to use more power for our air conditioners because the air leakage makes the cold air leave the home really fast. Proper building and siding on your home can help insulate it.

Doors and Windows

Doors and windows usually have rubbers that prevent the passage of air when they are closed. However, over time these rubbers accumulate large amounts of fine particles of dust (you can notice black powder accumulated on the door frame easily). It is obvious that the rubber sealant in this case is not performing its function properly. That’s why you need to check if the rubber is in a good shape and if it is worn out you should replace it with a new one in order to solve the problem. However, in some cases even the replacement won’t fix the problem which means that you will have to apply additional sealing of the door/window.

In order to do that you will have to prepare the door first. If you have used rubber or foam strips for sealing doors and windows in the past it is necessary to remove them. In some cases this won’t be easy because the foam peels off from the plastic adhesive tape that kept it glued to the wooden surface. Make sure that this part of the job is done properly because it is crucial for the success of sealing. The places where we can find remain of old tape, the glue from the new tape won’t be able to hold it for more than few weeks and after that the tape will lose its function.

Choosing a Weatherseal

Choosing the right weatherseal is also important. There are many different type os tapes like this on the market. Some of them can fill cavities of up to 0.2 inches. It is recommended to use a tape that is thick as it is necessary because if you place tape that is too thick it will be more difficult to close the doors and windows. Sponge sealing tapes are not recommended because they don’t last long. Besides rubber and foam/sponge tapes you can use aluminum slats too.

The process of sealing window and door leaks is not very difficult, but if you are looking for fast and quality results it is better to leave this task to professionals like the ones working in Portland Exteriors.