The Entry Doors of Your Toronto Home Could be Leaking Warm Air, Too (Not Just those Windows) March 16, 2015 If you’re like some Toronto area homeowners, you’ve probably heard that your windows could be costing you a significant amount of money every month on your heating and cooling expenses throughout the year. That has to do with draftiness. 40 percent of the home’s heat and cool air can be lost through old, drafty windows, but it can also be lost through your entry doors. A significant amount of attention is placed on windows, but entry doors could actually be costing you even more energy loss due to drafts. The main aspect when it comes to entry doors is around the exterior portion of the door itself. Where the door meets the frame there could be gaps created, especially over time. The more use that an entry door receives, the more likely it is to wear down either the surface of the door, the frame, or the foam insulation that creates the buffer and blocks out the exterior air. This doesn’t mean you have to completely replace your entry doors if they are not that old. You may be able to simply apply a new strip of foam or other material to help seal the door more effectively. If you close the front door, it clicks closed smoothly, and you don’t require any effort to push it closed tightly against the frame, you might have cool air pushing in around the exterior portion of the door during winter. That means your warm, heated air will be escaping through these entry doors as well. You also may find cool air seeping underneath the door. There are certain foam strips that can be applied to the base of the door that help cut down on this, and you may also use a draft dodger, which is a small beanbag style material that would run the length of your door to help stop those drafts from getting in under the door. The more drafts that you cut out throughout your home, the more heat in the winter and cool air during summer you’ll save.
