Front Door hung incorrectly in pre-existing home weather stripping not sealing
I have a beautiful front door that is not trimmed out plumb on the hinge side. The door hangs still through out the swing though. The strike side and top of door have large gaps that the kerfed foam weather stripping will not seal.
1. Should I cut some small tapered strips of wood and at glue and pin nail it so the weather strip is pushed up against the door? This could be pulled out and reversed in the future if I chose to rebuild the inset
2. Should I scribe the door jamb with a compass and cut out the nonparallel groove at the top and strike side of the door. I can then cut a small strip glue and pin it so I can re install the groove vinyl weather stripping. This way I can cut a small piece of wood which wouldn’t need a taper cut.
I don’t want to tear this cool entry apart to get a tight seal with the weather strip.
I am not a fan of copper weather strip and need the vinyl foam to make up some irregular spacing on this 8 foot door.
Please refer to pics. May make more sense.
Replies
A simple fix might be to use one of those weatherstrip kits- vinyl foam attached to wood moulding. By the way all your pictures are sideways so they
are hard to see.
I did that to my garage entry door and it worked well. Seals much better than any other gasket, with the exception of magnetic gasket. (love these on metal doors).
Is the door tight to the weatherstripping anywhere on the strike side? From the pics and your description it appears to be loose the entire length of the head jamb and strike side? If so, it’s probably your strike plate or door hardware keeping door from shutting all the way. Try removing the hardware first and see if door will close tight with that off. If it does, than the hardware is getting in the way. Sometimes the mortise on strike is too shallow for the hardware or does not line up well and needs to be notched a bit better. Hopefully that’s all it is. If it isn’t, the fix is a bit more complicated. Better yet, if the door has been recently installed the contractor should come back and fix at no fee to you. If you damage the door by making the repair yourself, your contractor is not liable to repair as you have altered the door. This is all assuming a warranty etc are in place.
Either the door is warped or the jambs are cross-legged. That is, the carpenter didn't set both jamb legs plumb, so either the top of the strike side leans out, or the bottom of the hinge side kicks in. The correct fix is to rehang the unit with both legs plumb. The dirtbag solution is to move the top hinge in by the amount you want to close on the hinge side, and the middle hinge by half of that. That is, if there's enough compressibility in the hinge-side weatherstripping. That also works if the door is warped, as would re-setting the unit and kicking the strike-side jamb in until the weatherstrip contacts the door. Setting the jamb anything other than plumb though, assuming the framing is plumb, can require some real fiddling around to make the trim sit right. Do check whether the door has warped though. The manufacturer will have warranty standards and if the door is outside of them, they may replace it.
Gary Katz explains a lot of door-hanging geometry in this article. Although it's focused on interior doors, the principles are the same. https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2001/01/01/setting-prehung-doors
Rich,
Outside of resetting the unit right,
you might get better contact on the seal by “rocking” the hinges. You do this by adding a thin cardboard or other material behind the hinge(s). This shim does not go fully behind the whole hinge but just a portion of it. You want to rock or tip the hinge toward your gap.
Easier to do than explain.
Thanks all for your responses. I am going to recheck the door with my 8 foot level.
Check the door for flat and the side jambs for plumb or for exactly the same.......