Good morning again to one and all! Our regularly scheduled program of Codetalker has unfortunately been pre-empted for the day because of unexpected travel on his part. In lieu of a non-redneck diary, I present for your consideration the attempt to keep heat inside a 100 year old house; just one of many tiny steps that hopefully add up to an oil tank lasting a bit longer.
As always, feel free to ask any questions. Our woefully underpaid staff of professionals and DIYers will do our best to help with any situation we can, or at least attempt to point in the right direction.
Wait...DK diarists don't get paid? Drat. Then again, you'll probably see why after the swirlie....
For far too long, I've had a draft in my living room from the door leading to my smoking porch; the previous owner (badly) enclosed what was once the front deck, and it's far warmer to give myself cancer in there as opposed to frostbite as well. The door itself is original to the house, with nine panes of glass. Very nice...but faces the street. I guess privacy wasn't a huge concern back then.
The fun began about 2 months ago - can you believe I planned ahead for winter? I had a roll of self-adhesive rubber foam weatherstripping left over from remodeling the upstairs apartment. Of all projects I've done, I thought this would be one of the simplest, easiest ones I've undertaken.
Simple....easy....words never to be spoken in the same sentence as "old house". Ever.
On the left, is the top of the door....WHILE IT'S FULLY CLOSED!! The gap at the top is nearly 1/2", no gap where the latch is, and almost 1/2" again at the bottom. The door had warped a ridiculous amount over the last century. Once I got a good look, I counted myself lucky it hadn't warped the other way, or I would have had to replace the door long before now.
SCIENCE GEEK ALERT
Glass is not really a solid. Despite the fact you can break it, cut yourself with it, and tap on it, glass is actually always a liquid slowly oozing downwards as gravity pulls on it over time. This is why you always see a distortion when looking through ancient windows. Otherwise, the glass panes in this door would have at least cracked a very long time ago.
The picture on the right was the initial attempt at preventing air leakage. Besides the strip on the jamb where you would normally try to seal up, I also put additional strips between the door and the side of the jamb - there was another 1/2" gap horizontally. It looks like a mess (and it is), but the hope was to seal things well enough to keep heat in. I couldn't go any further up from where the strip is, lest the door no longer latch.
Unfortunately, there was no overly evident draft when I did this back in October; it simply wasn't cold enough to be obvious. Fast forward to mid-December...and -4 is cold enough to find drafts. Right next to where I sit at night, of course. Since we're going back down to 0 degrees for New Year's Eve, I had to figure something out besides replacing the whole door. Off to the store for 3/8" stripping we go. And this is all I could guess to do:
With the door closed, I applied the stripping to the OUTSIDE of the door. On left you can see the gap next to the last of the original roll I had. The right is what the majority of the door now looks like when closed - a small, black vertical line that is mostly unnoticeable. Incidentally, the doorknob is sagging - more on that in a later diary. I just didn't want anyone to think they were quite THAT hungover.
So there you go, a redneck solution for an ancient door. I know I'll be replacing that strip a number of times in the upcoming years; it sticks straight out 3/8" from the doorway, and I've already snagged it a few times with my sleeve. But if a few dollars' weatherstripping saves me some on the oil heat, it's well worth it.
Ok, the ball is tossed to the audience. Grab a cuppa and share your latest adventure, and feel free to ask away.....