My house was built in 1920, and we didn’t realize how drafty an old house could be when we bought it. But winter came along soon enough, and it got cold inside. Being a family of five on a single income, we didn’t have the money to buy all new doors. So I found inexpensive ways to keep our house warmer.
1) If you have a storm door, make sure it closes properly and has a storm window in it. If you only have a screen door you can put window plastic over the screen to help slow the draft.
2) Light a stick of incense and hold it around all sides of the interior door. If the smoke blows around, it means you have a draft. Put weather stripping on the insides of the door frame. Open and close your door a few times to make sure it doesn’t catch the weather stripping. Then use your incense again to make sure the draft has stopped.
3) If weather stripping doesn’t work due to gaps being too big you can make draft stoppers for wood doors easily. Measure the sides of the door that are drafty. Cut a piece of material 5″ wide and the length of the door. Fold the material in half, right sides out. Sew a stitch down the side of the material 1″ from the open edge. Fill the tube of material with a type of stuffing. Once it is full, staple the tab of material to the edge of the door that closes with the door frame. This will only work with a wooden door and a staple gun. The stuffing side will be large enough to cover most any sized gap between the door and the frame. You can also do this with the top of the door. If your gap is at the bottom of the door I do the same thing, except I staple the tab of material along the bottom of the inside of the door. Choosing material will help keep your draft stoppers less noticeable. I have a dark wood door and chose a navy blue material to make my draft stoppers out of. The material matches my entryway and blends with the door frame color well.
These draft stoppers also work well on interior doors that are made of wood. When putting the draft stoppers on the bottom of the interior doors, you may need to adjust the placement of them due to what type of flooring you have. If you have carpet it may slow the opening and closing of the door.
At the end of winter, I simply pull my draft stoppers off of the door, remove any staples, clean them and store them away with my winter curtains for the next year.
4) Use a stick of incense to go around door frames. Drafts can actually come in around your doors instead of through them. If you find a draft, put a line of caulk around your door frames. Use a plastic spoon or your finger to smooth out the line.
These are just a few ways we have found to slow the drafts in our old house.
