My dog has clawed a hole in the gate on the side of the house.  I’ve had to put a big tire in front of the gate to cover up the hole.  On top of that I placed an upside down bright red recycling bin.  The neighbors are very happy.

What does this have to do with energy savings?  Well . . . before I covered up the hole, my dog kept crawling through the hole, running around the neighborhood for a while, then coming to our front door.  There, she proceeded to claw at the door and destroy the weather stripping and seal around the front door.

Even a small air leak around your door can drastically impact your energy bills.  We wouldn’t think of allowing a 3-4 inch wide hole to exist in the middle of our door, but we allow several smaller holes which together result in the same amount of air leakage.

So, added to my weekend project list is replacing the weather stripping around the front door.  All of us should add an inspection of the weather stripping around your exterior doors to the Spring project list.  This is a simple project that will only take a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.

The Inspection.  Things to look out for:

• Check for cracked or cut weather seals.
• Look for gaps at the top or bottom of the seals.  If you close the door and can see light coming through the edges of the door, you know you have a gap.
• Check for a tight seal against the door.  Take a piece of paper and place it against the seal.  Close the door so that the paper is between the seal and the door.  If the seal is tight the paper won’t fall out.

If you need to repair or replace a weather seal around the door, visit this site for detailed tips on how to perform the task.  It’s really a simple and easy project that will payoff bigtime on your energy bill.

Photo credit:  hotblack