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Do you have drafty doors and windows? Even if you rent an apartment, you can stop those cold winter drafts and stay more comfortable by making your own draft stopper.
It can be as simple or as creative as you like and you probably have the materials already on hand.
You'll need fabric, something to fill it with and needle and thread or sewing machine.
The fabric doesn't need to be new and it could come in the form of an old shirt or towel or whatever you may have. It needs to be at least 8 inches wide or wider if you're dealing with a large gap, and it needs to be 6 to 8 inches longer than the bottom of the door.
Start by turning the fabric inside out and folding it in half lengthwise, then stitch down the side to make a long tube. You're halfway there already. You only have to turn it right side out, fill and close it.
To fill it, use sand, rice, beans, dry corn, newspaper, rags, yarn scraps... you get the idea. If you use newspaper or cloth of any kind, make sure to stuff it very full. Heavy items like sand or rice work better if you have them, but if not, just use what you can find. You can mix larger pieces with small ones to get both weight and volume. Nuts and bolts mixed with scissor-shredded rags works fine! Just try to distribute them evenly.
Okay. To start filling, you'll need to close one end. Measure one half of the extra 6 or 8 inches in the length and get a string or piece of yarn and tie firmly around the tube at this point. Fill it, then tie the other end.
That's all there is to it.
You can make a washable cover for your draft stopper if you want it to match something or to camouflage it or whatever. This is the fun part and anything goes that can be removed and washed. Patchwork, canvas, t-shirt material, velvet, silk... whatever you like. Make the cover the exact same way, except make it a couple of inches larger in every measurement to make it slide off and on easily.
Dress it up! Put on some buttons and bows or paint it with fabric paint. Lace, anyone? Or how about tacking some rope onto it in an interesting shape? Let your imagination flow and have fun with it.
If you're in a big hurry and need a draft stopper NOW, just roll up an towel or small rug and push firmly against the bottom of the door or window. No, it won't look as fancy, but it will work.
Use these draft stoppers on interior doors, too, where you don't need to heat. Areas like closets and pantries don't need to be heated like your living area does and you can save on your heating bill by closing them off.
If you've never used a draft stopper before, you might be surprised at how well it works in keeping your home warm and keeping your heating bill under control.
Sounds like a great idea, Linda! If you try it, let me know how it works, please?
I don't have any nylons, oops. but I do have old tube socks. I was thinkin about using some baggies too rolled in material or thin towel. Of course, those empty cardboard paper towel rolls, foil rolls might be perfect. Fill the almost full, fold the ends and staple them shut, or glue them shut, roll in plastic or thin towel or cloth. I have an area where I am trying to stop the cold coming from under a heavy cabinet. Basement is warm at that spot, but the draft is horrible. Another door draft stopper is those bathroom rugs with the rubber backings that you don't like anymore. I have a couple that still have the heavy rubber on the back, and the weight works like a magnet to the door. The mats don't budge til I move them.
Sounds good...I used to buy door sweeps but they've gotten too expensive lately...good, easy to follow guide/tutorial Pat.
Thanks for this information, have you got any tips for stopping the draft that comes through the side of the door? I keep stuffing the gaps with folded sheets of paper. I know buy a new door or a new house! Seriously Pat I love reading your articles.
Lynda: You and Pat will think I am nuts. Buy regular sanitary pads, not panty liners. Pull of the strips then past them on the frame above the hole where door latch goes into, and below it. Check the outside and see if you need to replace caulking. Ther is rolled caulking where you just cut strips and place them, rather than using the tube, pushing it in. There is a product, something like spray insulation. Fill gaps and then take a razor blade, box opener and shave the foam that sticks out.
Linda, baggies or paper towel rolls might work for where you want it, but wouldn't they be too short for a door? @ Lynda - go to the thrift store and get an old wool sweater (or use one you already have) and felt it, then cut strips and glue them to the door frame. You'll have to observe carefully just where to put them because if they're too close to the edge, the door might not close easily. Experiment before the final gluing job. This is the cheapest and most effective way I know to stop drafts around the sides and tops of doors.
Beverly, these really are easy to make; try one and you'll see. Linda, again - roll caulking is easy to use and replace when needed. That would be my second choice over felted wool strips.
Pat; We had a door replaced about 4 years ago, and it wasn't done correctly by Michael's friends. So air comes through even closed. The trim has big gap between it and the wall too. So, I put the pads on the frame so door closes on them. But because of gap around door knob, a lot of air comes in there. I take plastic bags and put them between the trim and the door covering up that tiny space that is there after door is closed. I stuffed plastic bags in the back side of door which works well. On front door, from being widened for Michael's wheel chair, it was one of those prebuilt frames. So, the outside needs to be recaulked to prevent the air coming in. Getting ready to order bubble wrap etc for windows, and I am going to get that strip caulking or rubber to close in the small areas. But I have an area in kitchen where a lot of cold is coming through the wall. I might just tak bubble wrap over the wall. A hutch will cover most of it. Old house, selling it now Michael is gone. So I don't want to put big bucks in repairs. The Kitchen is the worst area and it is an add own, with part of original house around it, the source of cold air.
Linda, those might work well between the trim and the wall if the gap is that big. When I was young, we stuffed rags into places like that and made them secure by pushing them in tightly with a butter knife. It's still a good method. I wonder if rags would work better than plastic bags? I don't know, just wondering. If you want to sell the house, you might consider caulking wherever you can on that cold wall then painting with an insulating paint.
It is easier to use plastic bags. I am using the big trash bags now, so I dont need so many. I let my dog out the kitchen door, so I can grab the bags rather quickly. The gap between door and frame is probably a half inch at least. The wall. The air is actually coming through the wall, no insulation. This is the house that jack built. It is horrible. Selling as is, so I am not putting anymore money than I have to, and that has been plenty with the leaking roof. Actually, for the wall area, I have this silver insulated sheet from packaging, and layed that under hutch on the floor then put cardboard box over it, against the wall. No draft now from under hutch. Between hutch and wall, I have used the cardboard boxes that 12 pack soda comes in and stacked them over the silver insulated packaging sheet and that is helping some. If I have to, I will get cardboard and cover it with plastic bubble wrap then lay it against the wall behind hutch or just tack it to wall enough to hold in place.
Sounds like you have a money pit, Linda. I just thought of something I found out and wrote about long ago. The insulation value of newspaper is higher by far than anything else we can come by cheaply. If you put 6 or 8 sheets of that under the cardboard, that will super insulate any place. Your house reminds me of one I once lived in. We put up a wall to make a room on an enclosed porch and it was so cold it couldn't be used. I layered newspaper over all the walls then put up sheets to cover it and that really made a difference. The windows were single pane and rattled in their frames when the wind blew, so I stuffed a LOT of rags around the frames and under the windows. I put newspaper on the floor, too, and covered it with, of all things, a blanket which looked like a rug. That project really paid off. :)
Newspapers, Grandmas remedy. I will try that.
They really do work. Good luck with your house, both keeping warm in it and selling it. :)
Hey, I throw out the weekly paper every week, and it is Free. Already have some thumb tacks. I don't care about pretty, just need to save on heat bills. Thanks Pat.
Thanks everyone these comments are marvellous, sorry for delay in returning. You all have so many wonderful ideas, going to print them out and try, maybe all of them! Also comforting to read that others experience the same problems. Thanks.
Glad we could give you some ideas, Lynda! :)
We need some of these at the minute.
I don't have the patience, nor a sewing machine. But I wonder, why not use a nylon stocking and fill it with something that won't leak out, after tying it, and just roll it in a thin towel or piece of material. You must have been reading my mind pat.