Filed under: Life
It’s been in the low 30s at night and in the morning the family room has been very cold. Jacket required.
Richard got a box that came with much-regretted large pieces of foam and styrofoam padding. Non recyclable. Has to go in what is a very small trash can out there. I could drive it to another city and pay for it to go away, or we could just break off pieces and squish them in there over the course of at least a month if not two because man do those take up space.
I started with the two smallest pieces that didn’t need breaking down.
On impulse Monday night I put one of the big ones against the doorframe to the garage. We’ve never had mice in the house, but that rubber sweeper piece across the bottom of the door surely wouldn’t be enough to stop them if they wanted to badly enough so why not. The block came an inch short of filling the frame so I jammed in a smaller piece sideways at the bottom and what the heck, went and put another big piece on top of the first. Costco-sized un-rice cakes for rodents.
It did not make me the top home decorator of all time but at least it amused me.
I walked in that room the next morning and to my great surprise it was nearly the same temp as the bedrooms.
Huh. We don’t have that problem with the front door. But we do there. I had always thought it was all the window space, but those are double-paned and it’s clearly the door.
I stopped throwing away the foam for the moment while trying to decide: how on earth do you insulate a door for real? The freezer’s right on the other side, so we go through there all the time with our hands full and minds preoccupied; you wouldn’t want a wallhanging swinging in your face and catching on your frozen foods.
Meantime, that foam effect is definitely being real (I was starting to get cold at 8:00 pm and went oh, right) and I set them back up every evening now. So glamorous. Just don’t look.
I gotta do something about this. Somehow.
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Can you 1. move the freezer so it’s not on the other side of the door, or 2. add a “storm door” to the door?
If not, you could check the insulation around the door and add a second rubber sweep (or home-crafted alternative) to/underneath the door. Or just glue the foam blocks together, cover the Whole Thing in attractive fabric or wallpaper, add handles, and move it into/out of place when it’s cold…
Good luck! Also wow, it’s so lovely when something you thought was unavoidable is perhaps in fact avoidable!
Comment by KC 01.25.25 @ 8:23 amIs cold getting in all around the door, or just at the bottom? I still have an old bean-filled-leg-of-Levi’s draft dodger. Or, if it’s all around, and the door swings out, add some rubber sweep type material along all edges to block drafts?
Comment by DebbieR 01.25.25 @ 12:10 pmWould you local hardware store have some suggestions (taking photos and taking with you can be helpful to ‘the hardware man’). They’ve probably met the problem before
Comment by Stella Collard 01.25.25 @ 3:53 pmI’m sorry you need the foam, but glad you found that it helps!
Comment by ccr in MA 01.27.25 @ 9:42 amLeave a comment
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