Metal door seals - draft protection

If a draft appeared in your apartment or unpleasant smells began to leak from the entrance, the front door is to blame. To solve this problem with minimal cost will help seal metal doors.

A metal door often does not cope with the task of preserving heat in the house, even if it is filled with insulation. Formally, it is considered to be insulated, but you are hardly interested in formal signs, as long as the door really keeps the heat in the dwelling.

It is glued around the perimeter of the door, and if it has a double porch, then on each of them. Too thick seals can create problems with closing the lock (see Installing locks in a metal door: easier than you thought), and too thin will not solve the problem of warming and sound insulation, will let odors into the apartment, as the door will not fit snugly to the door jamb.

• 1 Classification seals for doors
• 2 Which seal to choose

• 2.1 Requirements for seals
• 2.2 Seal Installation

Classification seals for doors

Metal door seals are manufactured by many manufacturers and differ in the following parameters:

• Material type. This may be rubber, silicone, polyethylene foam, plastic, foam rubber.
• Design. The seal can be completely made of one material or supplied with a pressure metal rail.
• Fastening system. Sealers are either self-adhesive (an adhesive substance protected by paper tape is applied to one of the sides) or attached to screws. But the latter can only be installed on wooden doors.

For reference. You can make the seal yourself, wrapping a strip of foam rubber with leatherette or artificial leather. Another option for eliminating door gaps is the weatherization of the entire door (see How to insulate the entrance metal door) and the inlet device around the web.

As a rule, the sealant for a metal door is sold in the form of a roll, the length of the tape in which is about 6 meters - this is just enough for installation on a standard door. In the package you will find installation instructions and fasteners, if necessary. But for the metal door use predominantly self-adhesive seals.

Which seal to choose

The choice of sealing tape depends on the thickness of the gap, which must be eliminated. If the gap has the same thickness around the perimeter of 1-4 mm in size, you can use a rectangular seal of foam rubber, polyethylene foam or polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Most often for metal entrance doors use rubber seals of various forms, the cross section of which resembles the shape of a letter of the Latin alphabet.

So:

• S-profile used for small gaps up to 3 mm in size.
• K-profile (E-profile) - for the same purposes.
• X-Profile and V-Profile - eliminates gaps of the average sizes of 3-5 mm.
• O-profile and D-profile installed on the door with a large gap between the leaf and the box (up to 7 mm).

So that the seal does not spoil the aesthetics of the door (see The design of the entrance door), it is produced in different colors, which allows you to choose the right tone for the existing door. But the most common and common colors are black, brown and white.

Attention! Experts say that the dye reduces the quality of sealing rubber. Therefore, if the door is at the entrance from the street, it is better to sacrifice aesthetics and put on it the usual black seal.

Requirements for seals

The tightness of the entrance doors is one of the main characteristics that buyers pay attention to. Requirements for it are increasing constantly. The door should prevent heat leakage, protect against moisture leakage (see Why the front door is sweating), air penetration, noise, dust and odors.

In addition, it should lock securely and smoothly. It all depends on the quality of the sealing profile used in the manufacture of doors.

Therefore, a modern rubber sealant for metal doors must meet high standards of water and air tightness, as well as ensure good damping of the door leaf during its slamming and junction to the steel box. Instead of a loud knock and rattle caused by the contact of two metal surfaces, you should hear only a soft click of the slammed door lock.

The compactor must not harden at low temperatures or peel off the surface. In all conditions, it must retain its sealing and insulating properties. For metal doors with high thermal conductivity, this is especially important.

Seal Installation

On branded metal doors, manufacturers make a special profile in which they install a seal formed exactly for it.

This door is considered very reliable in terms of tightness and does not require replacement of the seal for many years. Therefore, it is advisable when buying or ordering a door to pay attention to such details.

If you do not have enough funds to purchase a high-quality and reliable product, or if you have already purchased a door, not being aware of the fact that it should already have a rubber profile installed on it, sealing metal doors becomes your concern. It is not difficult to do this with self-adhesive tapes, the main thing is to choose a compactor of the required thickness and appropriate profile.

To do this, you can use a simple old-fashioned method: wrap clay in a piece of polyethylene, insert it between the frame and the door leaf and close it tightly. Reopening the door, you will receive a template for determining the thickness of the seal. But note that this should be compressed.

Installation of the seal is very simple: the protective layer is gradually removed from the sticky side and the surface freed from it is pressed tightly against the door fold. If you are unlucky and after a while the seal began to peel off, use the glue Moment for installation.