Last fall, I attended Avista’s Energy Fair. One of the ideas they had that really interested me were door sweeps to keep out cold air in the winter. I wouldn’t be surprised if my doors were the original doors from 1910. In the winter months, we keep blankets pushed up at the bottom of the door to keep out the cold air.
I was disappointed when I brought them home. They were obviously far too big for my doors. Recently, I found this video on Avista’s website. I can cut them to fit my door.
Until I bought my house, I really had no need to own a lot of tools. I am a complete novice with anything other than a screwdriver, let alone any tool that uses a battery pack. For this project, I needed a hand-held drill and a hacksaw. I already had the scissors and a tape measure.
I read the instructions on the drill, since I had never used one before. I managed to secure the Phillips-head bit in it the right way and I was ready to go.
On my front door, it looked like there was already a door sweep, so I changed direction on my drill and took out all the screws. It turned out that there was at least an inch of daylight between the door and the frame—it wasn’t really a sweep, but a strip that went under the door that extended to the frame. If I didn’t have my new drill, I would have been discouraged, but putting that strip back on was super easy.
Once that was done, I measured the door. It was about 32 inches wide. I marked the sweep with a Sharpie and used my new hacksaw to cut it down. (As a new tool user, the hacksaw wasn’t as much fun to use as the drill, but I managed!)
I drilled some small holes where the screws were going to go and then secured the sweep with the screws.
It was another really easy project to help make my house a little more energy efficient. I kind of feel like Rosie the Riveter now.
Watch videos on simple DIY projects you can do to improve energy efficiency at home.