If a neighborhood kid’s errant baseball pitch left a gaping hole in your sliding glass door, you’d want it fixed, right? Well, take a look at how much space exists around the edges of your sliding door. If you can feel a breeze coming through, it’s the same as having a hole in the glass. You’re going to want to install some weather stripping.
Choosing the Right Weather Stripping for Your Sliding Door
The process of installing weather stripping on sliding doors isn’t too difficult, you just have to make sure you buy the right sort of weather stripping for your sliding door. First of all, look to see if there’s already weather stripping there. Weather stripping on sliding doors tends to wear at different rates, so it’s possible you’ll only need to replace part of it. If you can get a sample of the weather stripping on your sliding door now, you know exactly what to buy.
1. Always remember to measure (and measure twice) the length of the area you need to apply the weather stripping to so you don’t end up a few inches short!
2. The sort of weather stripping you want depends on where the draft is coming in. If you can feel air coming in from between the sliding doors while they are closed, you’ll want some pile weather stripping to fill this gap. It looks like a fuzzy strip and has an adhesive backing. If you feel air moving at the jamb, choose tubular or rubber weather stripping for this job, unless the gap is very narrow.
3. In the case of a tight squeeze, foam weather stripping is going to be the right tool for the job. You can test a small strip of tubular weather stripping first to see if it will fit. It will form a tighter seal than the foam, but if there isn’t enough room it can prevent the sliding door from latching.
Need Window Help?
As always, if you’re still puzzled after reading our quick tips on choosing and installing weather stripping on sliding doors, ask one of our experts. TalkLocal‘s free concierge service can find a window specialist in your area who is qualified and happy to help with this, or any of your home improvement projects.
