Opinions on fixing blanket over door for insulation

[Skintandselfish]

Both our front and back doors are letting loads of cold air in. I should have sorted this before now, it's suddenly got very cold and I can feel them letting coldness in.

We have fitted draft exclusion strips all around the doors, but there are still some gaps and HHS doors themselves probably need replacing with something better fitting and more substantial.

Anyway I was thinking about maybe somehow fixing some traditional type woollen blankets over the doors. I am not sure how as yet, but I think this might look ok- in a warm highland kind of way.

We rarely use our front door (opens directly into sitting room), so the fixing could be fairly permanent.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Not sure about using a blanket but what about a door cutain?

Or see if you can get a pair of long, cheap preferably lined curtains from a charity shop and hang them from just above the door on a curtain rail.

You would also be able to move them out the way easily when you nedd to use the door.

My front door has thin Ikea curtains on a pole across the entire doorway. I lined them with the cheap Ikea fleece blankets (the curtains already had a thin lining so I could hide the blanket part in the middle, like a sandwich) and they cut down the draughts well.

what is an HHS door?

if it is a draught coming round a door you seldom use, you could fit wide duct tape which will seal it better than a blanket, and look less unsightly.

If you are fond of DIY, tell me what the door and frame are made of, where the draught comes through, and how wide the gap is, and I will have some other ideas.

On the door curtain front, you can get a specific curtain pole for doors so the curtain moves with the door iyswim - we had one in our last flat over our single glazed door for same reason as you!

We have a thick blanket lining a thick curtain hanging in front of our front door, it does make a difference. Our door is half glazed so more for that, but it has reduced the wind blowing under the door despite the insulation there. We used a door curtain pole that swings out of the way.

I saw a recipe for making one in a magazine a while ago - they used a nice highland blanket and trimmed it with some sort of fabric iirc, turned over at the top to make a hem to put the pole through. - it looked fine. I have an old thinly padded throw that I never really use and was thinking of doing the same - we actually have a curtain on a pole at the door, but it's quite a thin one and a blanket would probably be better. I think the main problem would be making sure you can move it back sufficiently to be out of the way/not blocking light when it isn't in use.

With the ones that move back with the door, are you not covering the door edges? Does it only stop draughts through letterbox/keyhole then? Most of the draughts in my door come through the sides I think.

I fail to see how duct tape would be less unsightly than a nice curtain made of a blanket.

the special curtain rail is called a portiere rod. It has a hinge in it and a slider so it is fixed to the wall beside the door at the hinge side, and to the door at the locking side, and overlaps the door edges. You can open the door with the curtain across it because it swings out of your way when the door opens.

yes, the draughts will come round the sides, top and bottom of the door where they fail to meet the frame. Also through a letter box if not well sealed. A blanket or curtain will give insulation and slow the draughts down a bit, but sealing the gaps will stop the draughts more effectively.

You are obviously envisaging a less unsightly blanket than me.

I have pole like these ....but found mine on ebay though for under £20 though

I have a heavy velvet curtain, made from two I bought in a charity shop, hemmed together and dyed in the machine at the back door, opened the seam at each end of the header tape and channelled the pole through to get a ruched effect....if you want to dye them make sure they are cotton velvet.

a lighter throw at the kitchen/diningroomdoor, just sewed a channel into the top

and again with the joining two curtains fro the front door.

Long curtains will cost an absolute fortune, but if you can get two fuller but shorter ones you can easily hem them, esp if there is no pattern to match, to get your length....those particular curtains were about £15 brand new and lined at dunelm.

..I needed almost three metres for the front porch floor to ceiling with a bit of pouffing at the bottom to keep the draught out, and because those poles move with the door it means dh can get in when he is in late and i have been able to draw the curtains across early to keep the heat in.

ah well i think my back door may be worse than the ones on here - in the winter it is so bad that last year in december I taped it shut (including all the gaps) using duck tape. Still cooler over there than elsewhere in the house but no more draughts. The unsealing of the door in Spring was a lovely celebratory occasion!!!