Mind The Gap!

Weather-stripping isn't really meant to seal gaps more than an eighth-inch.

So the way to solve this problem is to shrink the gap.

In an ideal world, I'd move the jamb over where it's supposed to be.  But that would mean filling a gap in the base molding next to the door.

Piecing in 3/8-inch chunks of a 4-part base molding is Not Feasible.

Fortunately, I found a big box store that carried flat trim that will work to fill the gap.  It is the right width, can be cut to length, and is mostly the right thickness.  It means the reveal from the jamb to the casing is off by a little bit, but that's something I can live with for "the servants' door".  This stuff is only $.30 a foot.   So $3 vs. close to $1K for a custom door; the math on that is left as an exercise for the reader... ;-)

The gap is a little narrower at the top, so once I cut it to length I scribed it and shaved it down to the right thickness everywhere.  A plane, a sanding block, and a few minutes time is all it took. Then primed it on all sides and nailed it in place.

Oh, I forgot - I filled the old screw holes and cavities from the strike plates first.  Then measured and chiseled out their new locations and...

Voila!

A door that stays closed.  With a deadbolt that works.

And, even without *any* weatherstripping, seals better than it did before.

Later I'll caulk the joint, paint it, and install new spring bronze weather-stripping.

And those are projects for another day.

The Ill-Fitting Door

The door to the sleeping porch...

I guess I 'm at a loss for words (which is not something that happens often on this blog...).  So I'll cover only the relevant bits here.

Note the giant gap between the edge of the door and the frame.  It's almost a half-inch!

It is supposed to be only about an eighth-inch.  This gap is wide enough that a decent breeze from the right direction will blow the door open.  That's awesome in the winter time.  Especially for our heating bill.

Another interesting thing is the existing weather-stripping.  This spring bronze weather-stripping is great stuff.  It seals well and lasts forever (unlike most modern stuff).

When it's installed correctly.

Note that the strike plate for the deadbolt is covered by the weather-stripping (see  the spot on the jamb missing it's paint about eight inches above the strike plate for the doorknob).  That means the deadbolt doesn't work because the bolt has nowhere to go...

Cooler still (no pun intended) is that the edge of the weather-stripping is up against the stop.  That means is doesn't flex like it's supposed to.

As I took the old weather-stripping off so I could fix this, it got better.  Behind the old weather stripping was a layer of duct tape.

I have no idea why.

One layer of duct tape isn't really enough to make any appreciable difference in sealing the half-inch gap around this door.

Oh yeah, what's this blob of electrical tape doing near the top of the jamb?

Yet another one of those things that makes you scratch your head in bemusement...

Of course, because none of this worked, several other things were added to the mix.

See that gray stuff just left of the strike plate.  No, not the duct tape, the foam rod that is tucked behind the weather-stripping below the strike and is sort-of held in place by the duct tape above the strike.

Um yeah.  That didn't work either.

So, I have an idea...

Lets add another piece of molding with a kerf so we can add a piece of felt weather-stripping as well (see black line just left of the gray foam rod).

Yeah.

And that didn't work either.

Surprising (or not!) considering that every type of weather-stripping known to man was installed on this door.

At. The. Same. Time.

I'll give them credit, at least they tried something new every time.

Still made the same mistake, though...

Ducts!

Ducts!  Everywhere ducts!

The guys have been working over the past two weeks to get the ducts and HVAC unit installed.  They are nearly finished with the rough-in.  The HVAC unit is in the mechanical room in the center of this picture.  It's being installed with two zones.

One zone will heat and cool the attic.  The other will cool the second floor directly (and the first floor indirectly - no duct-work needs to be installed down to the first floor).  You can see the dual supply ducts running diagonally from upper-right to lower-left in the mechanical room and then off the left side of the photo.

The ducts run around the perimeter of the room behind the knee wall.  The bottom duct supplies the second floor with each vent or return being in the 2nd floor ceiling; the top duct supplies this room.  The window seats in each dormer cleverly provide a route for the duct-work.

Looks like only a day or two is left.