Home Repair Workshop

Heat loss under entrance doors will always be a problem because they are subjected to daily use. The best way to find out if you are experiencing heat loss is to use an infrared thermometer. Take a reading of the floor in the center of the room and then move towards the entrance door. If you note a huge drop six inches from the base of the door you have proof heat is moving in that direction. Many products are being sold to address this problem and they do work-to a degree. Last year we created our own version by filling two 3"x24" plastic bags with sand, butting them together and packing them against the bottom of the door. Sand bags work better and cost less. Here's how YOU CAN DO IT and save!

Figure 1: Cut a piece of 2" diameter PVC pipe twelve inches long, drill a 1/8" hole in the center of a two inch End Cap and screw it on 5 1/2" square piece of lumber so the pipe stands upright. Then slip a 3"x24" bag on a two foot length of  1 1/2" PVC pipe, tuck the corners of the bag into the pipe and insert it into the 2" pipe. With a felt marker, draw a line 2 inches from the top end of the bag and another 6" from the top of the bag to indicate the location of the twist tie. The 2" mark is for the twist tie if you plan to use your bags on the inside of your entrance door which swings in. The 6" line is the twist title location if you tape your bags to the floor.

Figure 2: To fill each bag, cut 2 3/8" from the bottom of an empty 64 ounce orange juice carton, fill it with Play Sand and pour it into the funnel.

Figure 3: When you pull out the 1 1/2" pipe, the filled bag will remain upright so you can use a twist tie to seal the bag at the selected line. A twist tie consists of wire molded into a flat 1/8" wide plastic strip. Squeeze the bag together at the position mark and bend the twist tie a full 180 degrees over the line. Use a pair of pliers to hold the tie together and rotate the pliers three full revolutions. Then pull the bag from the pipe and turn it upside down to check for a sand leak.

Figure 4: When you remove the bag from the pipe and rest on a flat surface the bag will tend to flatten. Use the back of your hand to pound the sand down, as illustrated. With both hands in the center over the bag, press down and move your hands in opposition directions to smooth and make certain the sand is firmly against the ends and the entire length is level. To guide you in positioning the bags on the floor, measure and draw a line to indicate the center of the door. A twist tie at the 2" mark will produce a sealed bag 22" long so two of them will cover the door and extend past the door stops. A twist tie at the 6" mark will produce an 18" long bag, and since the distance between the door stops is 35", when the two bags butt together, the bags between the door stops, the sand will shift and produce a better seal.

To prevent the bags from shifting on the floor, run two strips of double-faced tape between the door stops as indicated in the End View in the illustration. Not the front edge of the bags is 1" from the door which produces a good seal. With the bags held in place only by the double-faced tape, open and close the door a few times to check the contact the door makes with the bags. Adjust is necessary.

Once you know the contact is perfect, run strips of 2" duct tape between the door stops with 1" on the floor and 1" on the bag. Repeat the procedure with the other edge and then run two strips completely over the top of the bags for added protection. Check the bags occasionally for shifting sand caused by foot prints and push the sand back in place. Admittedly, this is a quick and very low cost way to cut your heating bills this winter but with care it could last a few years.