Door curtains to stop drafts

[jellyjem]

After readings lots of posts last night I have brought some lined curtains for my front and back doors to try and stop some of the drafts and hopefully warm up the house. I also brought 2 sets of metal curtain poles but when my DH went to fit the poles we realised that the poles would be quite a distance from the wall as the brackets supplied to hold up the poles are quite wide. Have I brought the wrong poles? Would curtain tracks be better to keep the curtains flush to the wall?

I know this is really boring but I hope someone can help, I am confused and cold.

[trickydickie]

I don't have the answer but desperate to know it. Will keep an eye on this post too.

[sleeplessbunny]

personally I prefer tracks for curtains on windows, they seem to give a better fitting curtain. I have tracks for all our (draughty) windows. That said, I do have a door curtain that uses a pole, it sits about 3 inches from the wall. It works well, though. I wonder if a door curtain might be a bit heavy for tracks?

[jellyjem]

On the Argos website the curtain tracks are for light to medium weight curtains but maybe you can get heavy duty curtain tracks? My new curtains are lined and floor length so pretty heavy.

Sleepless - does your curtain pole stop the drafts? Don't the drafts just com through the side where the gap is?

[BrownSauceSandwich]

Yeah, there are two points to the weight of the door curtain... 1. It'll be better supported by a sturdy pole, 2. The folds will hang a bit deeper in a thick curtain, so you do want the curtain to project a bit further than a track allows.

If you still feel your brackets project too far, google "curtain pole brackets"... You may well find something else compatible, so you wouldn't have to replace the whole pole. I suggest you put the thing up, see how well it works and looks, then decide from there.

[jellyjem]

BSS - thanksI hadn't thought about the pleats, looking at the rest of my curtains they all have gaps at the sides so maybe I am over thinking this.

[Thesimplethings]

If you have modern PVC doors do you really need curtains on them? Just curious. We had our windows and doors replaced in April in a bid to reduce energy bills. Thermal blackout blinds upstairs and curtains. It's not dropped below 17 in the house so far but I'm wondering if door curtains will help reduce our ridiculous 250 pound a month energy bill?

[Hugglepuff]

We use a draft excluder by the front door during the day ( when curtain isn't drawn across ). Amazing how it stops the wind whistling through the tiny gap at the bottom of the door.

[dementedma]

Tried this before but people coming in from outside when curtain was drawn, couldn't open the door properly, the curtain got caught in the door and then ripped down the pole!
So now just have an old blanket as a draught excluder and shove an old jumper in the letterbox at night.

[sleeplessbunny]

our door curtain is effective, looking at it, it does hang away from the door at the top but by the time you get half way down the curtain is very close to the wall. It's also wider than the door so that helps. Around the bottom it is very snug. Most cold draughts will go for the bottom of the door.

I've had PVC doors in a previous house that were terribly draughty. The windows fitted well, no draughts, but not the doors. The frames and the doors themselves did flex a bit. Perhaps they weren't great quality.

DH went on a draught-excluding mission last winter and used a spongy tape round all our doors, and draught excluders at the bottom. It made a huge difference.

[jemjelly]

DH fitted the curtain this afternoon, we used the original rail and I can still see a gap at the top but it has definitely made a difference and feels much less drafty. Now I just need to trust my cat to lift the curtain and use the cat flap, I am paranoid she will pee on the floor so have spent most of the evening on my knees showing her how to move the curtain, I have been getting some very dirty looks from said cat she does not appreciate my efforts at all.

[Fluffycloudland77]

We had a door curtain and the cat figured it out. The problem is them coming in and the curtain not closing properly again but ours was a really cheap thermal curtain.

[Gaz81]

We have a really draughty door way (old wooden door) which we knew we would have to change but last winter opted to cover the area with a thermal door curtain. I hunted around the net for sizes to match our wide doorway and found a company called //www.curtainspolesblinds.com .Spoke to lady on the phone who was really helpful. We had a door curtain made and a very reasonable track delivered with hooks and fittings! I'm not a diy expert but followed the instructions and the end result was that we were able to have a warmer hallway instead of the previous year when heat was escaping and the draught kept creeping in. What worked for us was having the curtain made wider and tailored to our drop! The lady recommended a track as it keeps the curtain closer to the door, cutting off the gap for draught plus it's white and blends in with the walls! We are changing the door this summer to a pvc which will help even more but will keep the curtain for extra warmth plus we love the fabric.