a door on my porch.

Well, dang it. I just took a bunch of pictures of me replacing the weatherstripping on the kitchen door, but my SD card is apparently on crack and didn't save them. So I'm providing my own pictures; they may not be completely accurate, but you get the idea. :)

I noticed the weatherstripping on the bottom of our kitchen door was really worn and I suspect that might be the reason we sometimes have the occasional unwanted guest. I took a trip to Lowe's, found the right replacement strip, and read a website that described how to replace the weatherstripping. Pretty simple. The site instructed to take the pins out of the door to detach it, but our pins have apparently been painted over so many times that those pins were not going anywhere. So I decided to just take out the screw in the hinges.


It was pretty easy but the door weighed probably 50 lbs. I would classify this as a two-person job. I've been working out though, so I carried the door outside and positioned it flat on the side porch.


Step 1: Take off the old weatherstripping. It was held in by a couple of snaps so I just yanked it off, no problem. It was falling apart and looking really bare. Who knows how old it was.

Then I got the new weatherstripping out. It was about six inches too long, so I had to cut off the excess. This was the hardest part. I wore it down with scissors and a utility knife and then bent it and it snapped off. The new weatherstripping fit right on the bottom of the door and I put in four screws to hold it into place

The second hardest part (after cutting the new stripping to length) was putting the door back in. I had to hold it up and wedge my foot under it (but not too far) and line the holes back up and put in the screws. So basically it was one hand and one foot holding the door up, the other foot holding the inside so it wouldn't swing out at the bottom, and the other hand holding the electric screwdriver.

But it is finished! And the door feels sooo much more secure. It feels sealed; you have to pull harder to get it open. Oh, and the weatherstripping was $8.99 at Lowe's. So another inexpensive, quick and easy home improvement project. I think wedding planning got me in the habit of making sure I was productive on the weekends. Now I'm looking for home projects to work on while Nate is at work. Landscaping ... gardening (next spring) ... painting ... decorating. This homeowner thing is a lot of fun.