I'm closing the unused wide side entrance of my house and was instructed by the wood and materials store guys to use: Polystyrene foam, stone wool and an OBS board fixated with wooden beams. It's already massive, but this video showed me that I probably should isolate around the door as well.
This is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my old house. It was easy to pull up the trim, uncovering a gap of up to 3/4” in places. Filling it was messy but easy and soon enough I got the hang of it. Immediately felt the difference and now this end of the house isn’t nearly as cold as it was. Looking forward to seeing my heating bill next month!
If you know you may be using your foam several times you can cut the straw down and get a plastic drinking straw of the same size. This way the part you need to clean will be smaller and easier to manage
The painter's tape before using foam was a great tip, I wish I'd seen this video before I used spray foam! I use my dremel multi-max to trim the foam once it's cured, get a nice flat surface with little effort.
I'm lucky that this is a row house, so the side walls are not exposed, but the front wall has two bay windows that leak. the project will have to wait. thx!
Thanks, this was really useful and the pups are charming. :) Definitely gonna have to try some of these methods on my drafty doors. The hacksaw trick was genius, thanks so much!
Good video as always thanks! I too love spray foam but, like you said, cover everything you don't want foam on... including yourself! My tip is modify the straw! I just heat it with a heat gun or lighter then just smash it so the last couple inches are skinny and will fit much deeper into any crack or crevice!
I used spray foam for the first time in the basement of a house I was renting, I got it all over my brand new $900 patagonia parka! I didn’t think anything could be legitimately impossible to remove. It ruined my beautiful black coat all on the chest and back of the lower arms. I tried literally everything from pure acetone to dry cleaners to reading white papers from 3M to see if there was some solvent that’d break it down. Nope. I ended up gently sanding then using black dye with a paint brush. Still looks like garbage and makes me want to cry
Thanks! We just had an extra room built and they left HUGE gaps that I now know I can fill in w/foam. Like your easy going way, very relaxing to watch.
Thanks. I’ve got an annoying PVC door in my workshop that leaks air faster then an industrial fan. This video prompted me to get off my ass and do something about it....tomorrow.
YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER! Thank you !! for the tips. But can you suggest something for outlits? Mine are bad for leaking cold air. And note.. I am scared of doing something that will cause a fire. Thank you
Haha, my other half has something of a love affair with spray foam too! 🤣🤣. But he doesn’t have the patience to clean the nozzle 🙁Great video ! That mini hacksaw is brilliant, lm going to add that to my wishlist. Love those labs!
I notice in Europe most homes/buildings have an interior and exterior door. My apartment in Poland isn't well insulated and has a lot of cold air leakage through the bottom of the door.
Should I use spray foam to seal under the bottom of the metal plate on the inside of the garage entry door coming in to the kitchen where I feel cold air coming from under the plate? Then do I need to call around the edge of the plate? Thanks for your help! Gary
Nice. I like the way the old door looks (even if it’s an interior door) unless you spend a ton of money you won’t find a new replacement that has the same character. Just a tip a modified urethane sealant like tremco works great for sealing the exterior trim work it remains flexible and the adhesive properties are awesome. It’s all we used back when I did industrial metal roofing and siding. Did allot of work on 100+ year old factories where you had to seal between a brick surface and flashings
Awesome, 'cause I'm isolating a 100 year old house. We were supposed to move in during the summer, but here we are, right? Now I'm not afraid of the right kind of spray foam anymore.
You can easily clean the straw/trigger with a can of brake cleaner. Wear eye protection and flush the tube with brake cleaner; it dissolves any remaining foam.
Now that you've sealed that up all the other air leaks will present themselves a bit stronger. When I replaced our front door the bedroom became significantly more drafty.
Are you going to or did you already fix the rotted wood on door outside trim at bottom? I’m asking because I have same problem. I used Bondo on one outside door trim, held up good but I didn’t know how to get smooth. Any help?
Great post Eric. Lol spray foam is great but can be a mess (when I use it anyway) I have ruined countless shirts & favorite worn out jeans due to wonderful spray foam. Indeed as duly noted. it is extremely difficult to pull from arm hairs. Tell those kids with fur hello!
Awesome trick! How to do the same with a door knob!!! Mine is leaking cold air and I adjusted it but still on its own mechanism is leaking air. How to fix this?
Try tracing it out I. A thin pc of foam (think: craft foam sheets, or scraps of that translucent ‘foam’ sheeting roll from packaging fragile items- if at least doubled up. Exterior outlets and switches and things usually come with a foam [like craft foam sheets] that are used as a barrier. That’s about the best you can do. I’d search for a heavy mil craft foam at your local store, it’s the same thing & uber cheap
You Oughta become a teacher you explain things very well thank you your videos helped me a lot I have dyslexia so I have a very hard time learning but with your videos I have no problem
Is there a way to repair a double insulated replacement window? We have foggy replacement windows. Something short of replacing the replacement window? Windows are drafty too. Thanks.
Hi Barbara, many times a local window installation & repair company can replace just the insulated glass itself, not the whole window. might be worth a phone call, thx!
My issue is that I have a slight dip in the edge of the door that meets the door jamb about 1.5 foot below the lock. So even if I put the weather strip[, it bends along that dip, and the gap still remains. The gap is so much that at day time, I can see outside through the gap. I think I need somekind of filler, to straighten the edge, that will not fall off. Then put the sponge weather strip over the edge. Any suggestion as to what material to use. Some kind of epoxy or something. I imagin the process would be something similar to fixing a chipped bathroom sink edge....
Eric, great video. Had to do the same to my windows and doors using the same method. Also have that bucket boss tool thingy. BTW, what’s the name of that small crowbar your using?
I think it’s called a Japanese crowbar, not sure. I got it at a flea market, one of those guys selling a table full of inexpensive tools. The bucket boss is good, but stuff gets lost in the bottom of it. But better than losing stuff completely, thx!
Could be where we're currently living. The building is 118 years old. Drafty as all hell. But the worst is the kitchen, that was fixed by sealing the gap at the bottom of the door.
For sure pulling the trim and sealing things up helps a lot. Not so much as a door leak as it is air infiltration/exflitration. My personal favorite door insulator for doors that are really "bent" or frame twisted, is the screw down fabric covered foam aluminum door seal kit. There easy to find, just look for the most expensive one. Great filler when your up against a rock & a hard place when trying to fill a crack in any weather... IS them disposable bags from the store, you want paper or plastic? yeah, them kind WOOF guys... go get the ball
my old roommate just bought a house, complains about how hard it is to take trim off, and im like yo...get a trim puller they make a tool for that get one and shut up. He has not taken my advice.
pretty straight forward Vincent. make sure the moulding is clean and apply the foam weatherstripping in warm weather, it wont stick if its cold. cut the door sweep to just larger than the door and screw it such that its tight against the door threshold. thx!
the weatherstripping goes on best when its warm out. the tape doesn't stick well in the cold. be sure the surface is clean. and don't buy cheap weatherstripping, it will break. thx!
