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A pretty chilly draft is coming in under my kitchen door. Although this is the only door in the house without a door sweep, the door is weatherstripped and has a recently installed storm door outside.

I do want to install a door sweep in the future, but since I just moved in, I bought a door snake as a temporary measure to stop the draft. Unfortunately, it seems to do very little. There's still a lot of air coming in around the snake, even though it completely covers the bottom of the door.

Are there any other quick and easy ways of fixing a draft? It's strange to me that the storm door isn't more effective at keeping air out.

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  • Is the door glass, wood, steel, etc? Sometimes what can feel like a 'draft' is actually air flow caused when heat transfers to the door from the warm air, the air cools, then falls causing something like a convection current and can feel like a 'draft'.
    – BrownRedHawk
    Jan 6, 2016 at 13:43
  • It's wood. I think the problem is a gap between the storm door and the frame
    – Bill
    Jan 6, 2016 at 13:46
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    A gap like that could absolutely allow for air penetration. Proper weather stripping and a sweep should solve most of that however.
    – BrownRedHawk
    Jan 6, 2016 at 13:47
  • Brand? Photos? Chances are, if it's a modern entry door, it has an adjustable threshold. Please post more useful information.
    – isherwood
    Jan 6, 2016 at 14:07
  • @isherwood Unknown brand - it came with the house and is probably several decades old.
    – Bill
    Jan 6, 2016 at 14:12

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You might try one of these, if it could fit. They're pretty cheap as well and basically like a double sided "door snake".

Frost King draft stopper

Does the storm door itself have a sweep along the bottom? We bought an old house recently that has original doors to the outside. The storm door that the past owners installed works great as it has a sweep that 'scrapes' along the concrete outside until it seals in. If it's open the wind just blows around every crack of the door, but when it's closed you can't really feel anything.

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  • Great ideas! I took a look and saw that there's a big gap between the storm door and the door frame. I'm going to pick up a double-sided door snake today and see if that helps.
    – Bill
    Jan 6, 2016 at 13:38
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    Thanks! Hope it helps, but yeah the other thing would be to make sure the storm door is sealed all the way around when it's closed. Oh and if it turns into a house-wide issue to fix every issue or for future readers, I'll just mention that there are 'smoke pencils' out there that allow you to puff some smoke around an area. The smoke will get sucked in/blown away from wherever the draft is coming from.
    – TFK
    Jan 6, 2016 at 14:09
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Get the storm door "professional" back out to finally do it right, he/she/it left the seal off of the bottom of the storm door. Or, do it yourself as it's likely a slide-in seal...typically T-shaped or O-ish shaped. You shouldn't rely on the storm door though, so definitely get a side screw-on or bottom nail-on threshold seal for the actual door.

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