How do I fix a leaky door in a renter friendly way?

Question

Water and wind blow through this exterior door. Its freezing and I can see light through. Unfortunately the landlord is no help.

The frame is very crooked. On the knob-side of the door there is about 1.5cm gap between the door and frame near the bottom, vs few mm gap near the top.

already filled the gap in the side with expanding foam stripping. But still need to fix:

• doorknob keeps coming loose
• drafty spot at bottom corner of door even after applying weather stripping pic
• the seal at the bottom edge needs replacement but not sure what kind given that the frame is uneven

This is an exit door so I can't cause permanent damage/obstruction.

I have basic tools and access to the the hardware store. Hopefully there is a simple fix.

Answer 1

There are replacement door sweeps that are designed to fit over the bottom edge of the door. They're generally unattractive, but they work. Since this is a rental, be sure to ask the landlord if it's OK if you install one. Worst case, they're held on with only 4-6 screws, so you could pull it off before moving out and apply a little wood filler to the holes to cover it up.

The "gap" picture makes it look like the door frame wasn't installed correctly, leaving way too much room between the frame and the door itself. While less than ideal, a "renter friendly" solution would be to install a strip of thick, fuzzy insulation on the door frame, just inside the door stop, to help stop some of the breeze. Then on the door, install another strip of insulation, this one further toward the inside so the two but up against each other, but don't interfere with the door closing. Something like this:

           |  ^ outside
          S|  <-- S is the door stop
---------+F|  <-- F is fuzzy insulation attached to frame
         |D|  <-- D is fuzzy insulation attached to door
---------+ |  v inside

^{Looking down at the top of the door}

Fixing the loose doorknob should be as simple as tightening the screws firmly. If they keep coming unscrewed, a dab of thread locker (LockTite™ is one popular brand) should fix it right up.