Window & Door Air Leak

bnovc

Several of my windows and doors leak air. On both my garage door and my front door, the door doesn't seem to shut all the way, so air leaks through. I "solved" this by stuffing some kleenex in the area where the door goes into the wall. I'm not sure what the name for that is, so hopefully that's clear (when you turn the handle, the metal part that goes into that area moves in and out). I'm sure there is some better solution to this problem, but I didn't find anything good to buy online. Any suggestions?

Also, in general, are there any good list of suggestions to stop heat loss? It's been around 0 here lately and it has skyrocketed my heating bill (~60/m -> ~$300/m).

Thanks!

(Is this the most appropriate forum for these types of questions? HVAC seemed too far off)

gregzoll

Which one are you asking about, the garage door, or front door? Both can be sealed with the proper materials. If you have a decent stocked Ace Hardware, go and talk to those folks. For the garage door, does it have the gasket seals at the bottom, top & sides? As for the front, does it have a bottom threshold gasket, side seals, top seal, and threshhold sweep?

Ron6519

Try posting pictures. The post is too vague to get a handle on exactly what you need and where.
Ron

bnovc

Here are the pictures (sorry my camera sucks):
http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/

http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/pict0031.jpg - my front door
http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/pict0033.jpg - my garage door
http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/pict0034.jpg, http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/pict0035.jpg - this is the area where the door connects to the wall that I stuffed paper in to make it shut better

I have similar problems with my windows:
http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/pict0040.jpg - the top of this window had a huge amount of air coming into until I stuffed it with paper, too.
Probably because the bottom part of it is down too far: http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/pict0042.jpg

jlhaslip

remove the metal striker plate and bend the tab (if there is one) a little bit to force the door to close better.

__________________

Ron6519

Usually pictures help.
Ron

bnovc

Thanks. I guess that was fairly intuitive, but maybe I was too cold at the time realize it.

On a related note, suggestions on how to improve the leaks on my windows? (better than what I've done)

http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/PICT0047.JPG
http://dev.bnovc.com/tmp/diy/airleaks/PICT0049.JPG
(The white is paper towel

The window doesn't seem to slide all the way up to wooden area.

I also assume that most of the heat being lost in my house is through the windows (although maybe that's wrong). Are there any general things I should do to improve heat loss (to mitigate my $250 heating bills in Dec.), like caulk around them or something similar?

Thanks!

gregzoll

I would use a 3m kit, and finding out why the windows do not close all the way, may mean contacting the manufacturer to have one of their rep's looking at it.

Ron6519

Why doesn't the window go all the way to the top? Is something in the way? Can you latch the window with the locking mechanism?
This should be a fairly easy diagnostic to figure out why it isn't closing properly. The fix might be more involved.
Ron

Scuba_Dave

You need to take better pictures that aren't blurry