Insulation of the front door

Lately, every year there is an increase in tariffs for electricity and heating.The hosts of houses and apartments are taking all possible ways of reducing the heat - insulated walls, roofs, floors, foundations, put on double glazing windows, etc.But most of them do not take into account the fact that in a non-insulated door leaves from 5 to 10% of the heat.And if the old windows can be replaced with modern, the replacement door will cost much more expensive, so it makes sense to think about the insulation of existing constructions.This is what we will discuss in this article, and show you how to warm the front door without a large cash outlay.

General recommendations

since

prepare the sleigh is better in the summer, warming the house or apartment is recommended to do in the warmer months before the start of the rainy season and the first frost.According to studies, if you make a high-quality thermal insulation of a simple front door, the indoor temperature rises by 3 ° C to 5 ° C.This seemingly small difference can make all the difference - you will not need to go to his own house, wrapped in a sweater or blanket, you become less sick, indoor climate improved significantly.

Warming the front door will not only reduce heating costs and get rid of drafts, but also will make the "face" of your apartment more beautiful and reliable.Today, developers pass into operation apartments in multi-storey buildings with metal doors.Apparent at first glance a reliable and sturdy, this design is a common tin, which often can simply make a hole opener.

Needless to say that such a sense of security door does not inspire, and of any insulating qualities can be no question.Through it you will clearly hear what's going on the landing, the metal cools very quickly and passes into the cold room, and from drafts a sheet of iron will not protect.

door insulation ensures not only protection from the cold, but also provides good sound insulation and increases the strength of the door leaf.If your house has a plastic front door, then for its thermal insulation need special tools and knowledge.But as in most cases we have to deal with wooden and metal doors, we will focus on them.To cope with this work under the force of any host or hostess, who know how to handle the basic "everyday" building tools - a hammer, screwdriver, hacksaw, etc.

Before you start to work, you must take into account the specifics of the material from which made the door.For example, wood is rather soft, it is easy to operate, but on the other hand, because of its "pliability" cold bridges occur.When the outside temperature is lowered, the wood shrinks, becomes more dense, and the resulting slits are formed, even if the door unit fitted very accurately.

sufficient clearance in a couple of millimeters to significantly increase heat loss and deliver the apartments to tenants mass discomfort.And what will become colder atmosphere outside, the stronger the wooden door will be compressed, the gap will become correspondingly greater.To learn how to insulate wooden door, we will talk about later, but for now let's talk about metal structures, as they are most common in modern cities.

If you are "lucky" to move into an apartment with a front door, made of bare metal sheets, it is necessary to insulation work to start immediately, not hoping that the cold did not get to your floor.If the apartment is on the first, second or third floor, insulation should be as qualitative, because all the cold from the street it will accrue to your door.

Of course, you can change the iron door on the insulation, and many well advised to do without bothering to find out the details.Good insulated metal entrance door is decent money, but even multi-valued number on the price tag does not always guarantee quality.If you look at a standard Insulated sectional door, its structure unpleasantly surprised by its elemental - this is the usual "sandwich" of the steel plates on the outside and inside insulation.And what kind of insulating material is in the middle, depending protection characteristics of the door.The doors are inexpensive small thickness foam board (the price depends on the thickness of insulation).The better models found penofol, extruded polystyrene, mineral wool and other materials.

Metal door

Insulation for doors can be any, and the main determining factor here is financial opportunities.The best option for apartments in high-rise building will foam.Even if you buy the thickest plate, it will cost much cheaper, than to change the whole door, especially since you only need a few pieces.To fix the foam need to use special glue.

Step by step instructions on warming a metal door:

1. Remove the door from its hinges.To do this, slightly open it, place between the floor and the door mount and gently pressing the lever lift improvised canvas.Remove the door fully succeed only in an open form, or it rests on the top rung of the box.
2. Put the door on the floor or a table, remove the removable protective sheet.
3. inside of the door leaf Lay foam smeared with glue at several points.should be cut so that they were 0.5-1 cm over the inner surface before this slab foam - it allows them to hold tightly inside.
   
4. In most cases the insulation material fails to lay an even layer, without gaps.To cut small pieces of foam to close them, it would be too tedious, long and inefficient.It is much easier to blow out the gaps with foam.
5. Install removable leaf door into place and secure it.

But if the door leaf does not understand, the insulation should be carried out in another way.This applies to doors of boxes of Chinese, whom full of modern high-rise buildings.they are very cheap and have a presentable appearance, so many developers install them on objects.However, such doors do not understand, and to insulate them is not as easy as the others.The only way to "get inside" blades - cut the outer sheet, and then place it on priladit welding.

As warm not folding metal front door:

1. Remove the door hinge method described above.
2. Remove all adjusting accessories, including handles and locks.
3. self-tapping screws around the perimeter of the inside of the fabric (which will be in the apartment) fix the wooden beam with a cross section of 10 mm.
4. In the resulting box lay the selected insulation material (foam, mineral wool, expanded polystyrene).
5. Close insulation upholstery for the door.First, attach it to the top bar and, pulling tight, nail the rest of the joists along the perimeter.Nails can be nailed with decorative caps or braces using conventional staple gun.Fastening set every 10-15 cm

Tip:. For greater durability and aesthetics can make a frame of beams, not only on the perimeter of the door, but also pave the bars inside, making a few cells, the compartments in which the heater is located.

It should be borne in mind that this door will take a bit of internal space premises, but give warmth during the cold season, the peace and comfort.

Wooden door

Wood is always appreciated for the good insulating qualities and the ability to retain heat in the house.Because wood is still building the warmest bath and strong house.But modern entrance door made of wood for some reason not happy with the high insulating properties.The fact that for door no longer use the conventional timber - they are made of pressed shavings and other wood industry waste.If you try to raise the input or interior doors in any Soviet-built apartment, it will be very hard - much harder any wooden structure.This is due to all sorts of impurities, polymers, compression, etc.

But be that as it may, today in many apartments are input wooden door, desperately in need of insulation.Over time, these designs begin to sag on its hinges, tightly closed, crack or crack.And before embarking on the insulation of old wooden door, you need to identify the cause of the drafts.If this is the crack in the canvas, it is necessary to seal the filler or to drive a peg to the appropriate size.If the door is sagging, it is necessary to tighten or completely replace the loop with new ones.If the replacement hinges did not help, and the door is still not clearly stands in the doorway, you may need to remove the sagging portion of interfering plane.

Warming of the front door with your hands:

1. to carry out insulation work the wooden door, as well as metal, must be removed from its hinges and put on a flat surface.
2. Remove all accessories, including the locks and handles.
3. On the perimeter, cut a shallow groove for scallop layout.
4. as insulation for doors made of wood, you can use mineral wool, thick foam, foam, etc.But better still take a soft material, so that the door from the inside looked more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.Stick on the door leaf foam (you can use glue or wood glue universal building).In contrast to the installation of insulation in a metal door, is the material should not be glued right on the door form.Leave 2-2.5 cm of empty space around the edges, so that after pulling the upholstery slants were smooth and beautiful.
5. top of the insulation stretch upholstery, attaching it with decorative nails or use the staple gun.
   
6. To make the door more beautiful stretch under the nails brass string diagonally - so trim "push" pattern.By the way, it is not necessary to do the standard diamonds - beat more nails, you can weave a more intricate pattern.

Tip: for extra protection from drafts, nail gasket to the bottom of the door - then at the door will never blow.

Warming does not work - what to do

If insulation door does not work, and in the winter you can still feel the cold at the entrance to the apartment, possibly insulation has been laid correctly, the quality is poor, or he simply can not copeto the load.In some cases, the cold can penetrate through the voids within the web that are not up to the end were filled with foam, so do all the maximum quality, so you do not disassemble the door again.

Another reason of high heat - incorrect placement door.Perhaps it is a little crooked, and it is necessary to tighten the loop.Note that the insulation and sheathing to give him an extra load on the hardware, so if you insulate the door in the summer, the winter, it may be a little prosest.Be sure to use a rubber sealing strip to prevent the occurrence of drafts.

Door will blow cold, if the builders made a mistake when installing the door frame and blew loose cavities with foam.To exclude this factor, hold a lit candle or cigarette lighter to the door and walk around the perimeter of the box - if the flame is deflected, then the box misses drafts.

Double door

Sometimes warming front door can take a lot of time and effort, and much easier to install a second door.For example, if you do not want to mess with molded Chinese metal door, then putting a second web from within you will provide protection from the cold.

Even if the second door is made of ordinary wood without insulation, it still will give positive results.Heat loss will be reduced for the light that is between the outer and inner doors there air buffer zone, where the cold air will linger and warm.Thus, you make a mini dressing room, which is your guarantee of warmth and comfort.

However, it should be noted that the installation of the second door, "take" at least 20 cm of interior space, but it's a reasonable sacrifice in exchange for the absence of drafts.For a good insulation, you may not even need to buy a new door - you can take an ordinary interior doors (of course, without glass inserts).It is also recommended to install the nut.Installation is a classic case, the only thing - is better to attach the gasket or foam tape on the door perimeter.

If you want to make the most of warm apartment, to significantly reduce the cost of electricity and heating, insulated front door, but do not stop there - make a facade insulation, replace old windows and make warm floors.

Entrance doors, photo

Finally, we offer you to look at a variety of insulated doors: