Since we have several threads on Fall/Winter and changes in the weather, I have to plan ahead for cold nights here in the Tundra.
What I am looking for is a gadget that you put at the bottom of your door to stop drafts and help keep in your heat. I think that costs will rise considerably this winter with the price of gas, electricity, etc. so I am looking for ways to economize.
Do you know of any sites where one can buy these draft chasers, or whatever one would call them, short of putting a rug up to the door, which isn't effective for long?
Full Version: Draft Stoppers ................
Here y'go.
http://www.nextag.com/draft-stopper/search-html
They're also easy to make:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2177895_inexpensiv...t-stoppers.html
If you put a loop at one end, you can hang it on the door knob when you're not using it.
http://www.nextag.com/draft-stopper/search-html
They're also easy to make:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2177895_inexpensiv...t-stoppers.html
If you put a loop at one end, you can hang it on the door knob when you're not using it.
Here you go, Char. I think these sites might have what you're looking for. http://www.bestofnewengland.com/cat-Draft_Stoppers-88.aspx
http://www.bendixens2.com/Merchant2/mercha...WID=88784573021
...or here's one you can sew if that is something you like to do.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Draft-Dodger
Also, if you like to crochet, I may be able to locate a pattern for you.
http://www.bendixens2.com/Merchant2/mercha...WID=88784573021
...or here's one you can sew if that is something you like to do.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Draft-Dodger
Also, if you like to crochet, I may be able to locate a pattern for you.
Make one of the twin stoppers (with a tube on each side) if you can - they stay on the door when it's opened and closed.
We just spent a very cold winter in an unheated, barely insulated house in New Zealand. Here is what I have learned:
- stop any draughts. Add foam insulation to the windows if there are any gaps at all that would let cold air in. Same with the doors.
- put up heavy curtains with thermal linings
- keep doors closed in any rooms you aren't using
- if you are doing any baking, leave the oven wide open once you've finished. The hot air will warm the kitchen
- get some warm slippers and woolly cardigans that can be thrown on for extra warmth
- get a hot water bottle and use it if you're sitting watching telly or similar - it'll keep you warm even if the room is chilly
Now that we are in our own house and not a rental, I am adding:
- make sure there is plenty of insulation in the ceiling
- make sure there is damp proofing and insulation between the ground and your floor
- consider temporary "double glazing" using shrink plastic, if you don't have/can't afford proper double glazing
Hope some of that helps!
We just spent a very cold winter in an unheated, barely insulated house in New Zealand. Here is what I have learned:
- stop any draughts. Add foam insulation to the windows if there are any gaps at all that would let cold air in. Same with the doors.
- put up heavy curtains with thermal linings
- keep doors closed in any rooms you aren't using
- if you are doing any baking, leave the oven wide open once you've finished. The hot air will warm the kitchen
- get some warm slippers and woolly cardigans that can be thrown on for extra warmth
- get a hot water bottle and use it if you're sitting watching telly or similar - it'll keep you warm even if the room is chilly
Now that we are in our own house and not a rental, I am adding:
- make sure there is plenty of insulation in the ceiling
- make sure there is damp proofing and insulation between the ground and your floor
- consider temporary "double glazing" using shrink plastic, if you don't have/can't afford proper double glazing
Hope some of that helps!
My sister and I went to an estate sale today, and I of course was looking for fragrances. They just happened to have a black cat door draft chaser that I found for $2. It is so cute........the black cat stands at the end of the door and it's long tail (filled with some kind of beans/rice) lays next to the door. I am anxious to try it out.
Draft stoppers?
Tell 'em your a gay communist.
Tell 'em your a gay communist.
Honey - what part of NZ are you in? Oooh, it can get real cold there.
QUOTE (Lady jicky @ Sep 22 2008, 06:58 PM) 
Honey - what part of NZ are you in? Oooh, it can get real cold there.
I'm in Christchurch. Not the coldest part of the country, but fairly nippy at times
QUOTE (CHARDKAY @ Sep 18 2008, 09:13 PM)
Since we have several threads on Fall/Winter and changes in the weather, I have to plan ahead for cold nights here in the Tundra.
What I am looking for is a gadget that you put at the bottom of your door to stop drafts and help keep in your heat. I think that costs will rise considerably this winter with the price of gas, electricity, etc. so I am looking for ways to economize.
What I am looking for is a gadget that you put at the bottom of your door to stop drafts and help keep in your heat. I think that costs will rise considerably this winter with the price of gas, electricity, etc. so I am looking for ways to economize.
Greetings from the north! Erm, could you please describe how the door is built? Is there a space between the door and the floor? If you let me know what you need the draft stoppers for - I've never ever heard of such a thing before
- I might be able to show you a solution to stop the draft. QUOTE (allure @ Sep 22 2008, 08:12 PM)
Greetings from the north! Erm, could you please describe how the door is built? Is there a space between the door and the floor? If you let me know what you need the draft stoppers for - I've never ever heard of such a thing before - I might be able to show you a solution to stop the draft.
- I might be able to show you a solution to stop the draft.Allure, greetings from the south
I know you weren't talking to me but I will answer anyway. Many doors have a small gap beneath them to allow for some clearance over the carpet (or other flooring) when they open and close. Even exterior doors have some clearance, but it is usually masked by a built-in edging which stops any draught from coming in. But in many houses, particularly older ones, the floor may settle or the walls may shift, and that gap becomes large enough to really let in some cold air. And, of course, some houses never had any built-in edging put on the bottom of the doors. Interior doors are usually more draughty than exterior doors.In an unheated house or a very cold climate, it becomes very obvious if there is a draught coming under the doors, even if it would not be obvious on a warm day or with central heating turned on.
Hope that helps explain it a little!
QUOTE (HoneyThief @ Sep 22 2008, 12:30 PM)
Allure, greetings from the south I know you weren't talking to me but I will answer anyway. Many doors have a small gap beneath them to allow for some clearance over the carpet (or other flooring) when they open and close. Even exterior doors have some clearance, but it is usually masked by a built-in edging which stops any draught from coming in. But in many houses, particularly older ones, the floor may settle or the walls may shift, and that gap becomes large enough to really let in some cold air. And, of course, some houses never had any built-in edging put on the bottom of the doors. Interior doors are usually more draughty than exterior doors.
In an unheated house or a very cold climate, it becomes very obvious if there is a draught coming under the doors, even if it would not be obvious on a warm day or with central heating turned on.
Hope that helps explain it a little!
I know you weren't talking to me but I will answer anyway. Many doors have a small gap beneath them to allow for some clearance over the carpet (or other flooring) when they open and close. Even exterior doors have some clearance, but it is usually masked by a built-in edging which stops any draught from coming in. But in many houses, particularly older ones, the floor may settle or the walls may shift, and that gap becomes large enough to really let in some cold air. And, of course, some houses never had any built-in edging put on the bottom of the doors. Interior doors are usually more draughty than exterior doors.In an unheated house or a very cold climate, it becomes very obvious if there is a draught coming under the doors, even if it would not be obvious on a warm day or with central heating turned on.
Hope that helps explain it a little!
HoneyThief, thanks for the explanation! I live in a country where winters can be pretty cold (at least at some stage, usually in February). Houses must be well built and insulated - otherwise our heating bills would be astronomical. I guess in this case it would be wise to have an edging built and then insulate the entire door with insulation, ehm... tape? I've no idea what it is in English! You buy rolls of it, there is a tape-like sticking edge and the other side is either a rubbery tube or foamy tape. The tape is squeezed between the door and the frame and thus preventing the draught.
Chard, find a Scandinavian carpenter who knows how to build the edging - in Michigan there should be lots of descendants of Nordic immigrants...
Click to view attachment
And apply some insulation "tape" down there.
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I wish well to everybody living in a cold place!
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