Get your home ready for winter
As we say goodbye to summer and head into the colder months of the year, it's time to do a few projects in and around the house to ensure that your home is snug and warm.
Check doors and windows to ensure they are draught-proof and watertight. Something as simple as fitting a door sweep (draught excluder) only takes around 15 minutes tops and won't cost much, but at the end of the day it will keep out cold draughts and rain - protecting your home and helping to keep it warm.
You can buy a door sweep at your local Builders, ranging in price from around R50 for a basic model to R100 for the one shown here. It's money well spent if you consider the cost of replacing damp carpets, or how much you would need to spend on heating costs.
YOU WILL NEED:
Door sweep (also called draught excluder or weatherproofing strip)
16mm screws
TOOLS:
Drill / Driver plus assorted bits or screwdriver
Dremel Multitool and cutting disk, or jigsaw and blade for cutting steel, or angle grinder
HERE'S HOW:
1. You can buy a door sweep in a length of 915mm, which means they fit a variety of door widths. Included with the strip you should have a template that can be used as a guide for cutting the strip to the width of your door. Simply fold one end of the strip to the width of the door. The template should also have guides for marking the door to show where 16mm screws need to be added. Use a sharp pencil or screwdriver to mark the door.
2. Transfer the length of the folded template onto the aluminium weatherproofing strip. Cut the aluminium weatherproofing strip to length using a Dremel multitool and cutting disk, jigsaw and steel blade, or angle grinder.
3. Secure the strip to the door with 16mm screws at the marked locations. Leave a fair amount of thread visible in order to slot the aluminium weatherproofing strip over the top. Once the weatherproofing strip is in place you can tighten up the screws to secure the strip in place.
A weatherproofing strip closes the gap at the bottom of a door to keep out cold draughts and prevent heat loss, adding towards an insulated home. The full article appears in Issue 17 of Easy DIY magazine.