Adding Weather Stripping to Windows and Doors

Weather stripping can serve several different needs. It is used for the windows in your car, and it can be used for the windows in your home for the very same purpose. If you often feel a draft blowing through your house, or moisture near windows, then weather stripping may be the thing for you. It is a quick and reliable fix for many problems that could be expensive to solve by other means. Weather stripping can also be used to keep good conditions indoors rather than escaping outside.

You could take a steam shower and convert your bathroom into a sauna. Your very own home spa! Measure the four sides of the window frame where the face of the sash adjoins the casing, and also the distance across the meeting rail. Then measure around the four sides of the door, on the outside where the door stops and threshold is.

A ruler or steel tape measure, marking pencil, and a light hammer will be needed. If the strips are of wood, a small saw and miter box are also needed, but if the strips are of cloth a pair of scissors may be used for cutting them. A number of linear feet of stripping; some three-quarter-inch wire brads, if wooden strips are used; 4-ounce size tinned trunk tacks (rust proof) for padded cloth stripping; smaller trunk tacks or common carpet tacks for felt stripping.

It is advisable to use tacks that will be least noticeable and that will not rust. You should look for the same ones as used for sliding shower doors. Obviously, shower doors get wet, and shower door hinges or tracks are subject to rusting if you do not get the right kind. The window should be locked when weather-stripping is attached to insure best results.

Care should be taken to see that the contact edge presses snugly at all points against the sash or casing, as the case may be, before the tacks or brads are driven. The weather-stripping for the upper sash should be tacked to the frame adjoining the sash on the outside of the window. If the flexible type is used, one piece can be cut to extend around the two sides and top.

If, however, the rigid kind is used, three separate pieces will have to be cut, with the two corners mitered, to make a neat fit. For smaller gaps you could use something like plumbers grout or calking often used for the bathtub wall. Gaps between the bathtub and the wall are sealed with bathtub calk to keep moisture out; much like weather stripping.

The weather-stripping for the lower sash is attached on the inside, and four separate pieces are required, regardless of the type used. The two side pieces are tacked to the face of the inside stop bead adjoining the sash, with the contact edge pressed against the face of the sash, and should extend from the top face of the stool, or inside sill, to the top of the meeting rail. The piece across the width of the meeting rail is tacked to the top of the lower sash, so that the contact edge will cover the crack where the upper and lower sash rails meet.

This piece will probably have to be cut in two parts to provide space for the window lock. The piece across the bottom is tacked to the face of the sash with the contact edge down to butt against the top of the stool or inside window sill. The door should be closed and locked while weather-stripping is being applied. If flexible-type stripping is used, two pieces will do; one, the width of the bottom of the door; and the other, long enough to extend around the two sides and top.

If rigid strips are used, four pieces will be required, with the two top corners mitered, to make a neat joint. The bottom piece should be tacked to the inside face of the door with the contact edge down and pressed snugly against the top of the threshold. If the threshold is so badly worn that it is impossible to obtain a tight contact at all points, it should be replaced with a new one.


Allison Ryan is a do-it-yourself home improvement expert from San Diego, CA. She specializes in remodeling, woodworking, and even bathtub installation! For anything from new shower doors, bathroom vanities, and swim spas, to a sauna or spa for your backyard, stop by http://www.mybath.biz/.