Bug Free Door

lakngulf · Sep 21, 2014

And lizard free, and wasp free, and dirt dauber free etc.
Got a small storage area under my deck. I installed corrugated tin slightly slanted in an area under my deck and walled it in with T111. Best I could do height wise was about 78 inches. Entrance area is less than that due to boards to hold rafters etc.

I have the walls and ceiling pretty tight and now want to install a door. The pre-fab units with threshold, side foam barriers, etc will not work. What is my best bet to install an air tight door, or at least a bug free door. If there is a good solution then I have a couple other door installations that I need to repair.

Thanks in advance.

EddieWalker · Sep 21, 2014

Are you building the door from scratch or modifying an existing door? If possible, I would modify and flat exterior door by cutting off of the bottom and remounting the threshold. Once you install it, weather strip all around the door so you have full contact 100 percent around the edge of the door. If you can stop the wind from getting through the door, you will stop the bugs.

Eddie

lakngulf · Sep 21, 2014

EddieWalker said:
Are you building the door from scratch or modifying an existing door? If possible, I would modify and flat exterior door by cutting off of the bottom and remounting the threshold. Once you install it, weather strip all around the door so you have full contact 100 percent around the edge of the door. If you can stop the wind from getting through the door, you will stop the bugs.

Eddie

I do not have door or anything now. Just an opening about six feet wide. I will build a wall with a space for the door (I have done that several times) but I have never been able to install the door so that wind could not get thru. So, can I buy a preframe (threshold and all) door, disconnect at the bottom, cut the door and the threshold sides, and reattach bottom? Does that make sense?

Or, if all else fails what is the best weather stripping I can buy?

EddieWalker · Sep 21, 2014

Yes, that's what I do if the cut is less then the distance between the bottom of the door and the hinges. I hate messing with the hinges. I have had doors where I had to cut both ends because of how it looked, but if that's not a big deal, then just cut the bottom. Remember that the most affordable exterior doors are going to have thin sheet metal on them and you need to cut that first with a metal blade in a circular saw. Any other type of saw will make a mess and look pretty bad. Then just remove the same amount from the frame. If you cut four inches off the door, you cut four inches off the frame. The threshold comes of pretty easy and it's pretty simple to reattach it. Be sure to use plenty of silicone or caulking under the threshold. This is where a lot of critters get through. It doesn't look like a big space, but in every door that I've taken out, it's packed with dead bugs.

Eddie