Door Sweeps & Under-Door Draft Sealing
A door sweep is the linear gasket mounted on the bottom interior face of an exterior door that closes the gap between the door bottom and the threshold below — Handis installs adjustable aluminum-and-vinyl sweeps, fin-seal pile strips on sliders, and automatic drop-sweeps on the garage-to-house door, sized to the actual gap and seated flush without binding the door, from $120 per door. It is the simplest cold-air fix on the envelope and one of the highest-payoff — the cold air pouring under the front door from across the room in January, the dust that collects on the floor inside the back slider every week, the bug-sized opening at the back of the garage-to-house door even when the door is fully closed. A 1/4-inch gap under a standard 36-inch front door leaks the same air volume as a 4-inch round hole in the wall (Department of Energy field measurement).
Service
What Does Door Sweep Installation Include?
Door sweep installation is the fit of a linear gasket — aluminum track with vinyl fin, fin-seal pile on a slider, or automatic drop-sweep on a garage entry — to the bottom interior face of an exterior or unheated-boundary door, closing the gap between the door bottom and the threshold below, from $120 per door including threshold check and old-sweep removal. Every exterior door wants one, plus high-traffic interior doors across an unheated boundary (garage entry, basement door, attached-utility-room door). The work breaks into the sweep types and the install conditions on a typical Seattle home.
Front Door, Back Door, and Side-Entry Sweeps
Standard exterior wood, steel-clad, and fiberglass entry doors get an adjustable aluminum-track-with-vinyl-fin sweep mounted to the interior face of the door bottom. The aluminum track screws to the door, the vinyl fin slides down on slotted holes until it just kisses the threshold without binding. The vinyl is replaceable — the next failure 5 to 8 years out is a $15 vinyl swap, not a full sweep replacement.
Sliding Patio Doors
Sliders use a different sweep design — a fin-seal pile strip embedded in the bottom rail of the moving panel, riding on the track. Worn pile is the source of every drafty slider. We pull the panel, replace the pile strip the panel rolls on, clean the track of decades of dirt and broken glass, and check the rollers — a slider with a high pile gap is sometimes a slider with worn rollers letting the panel sit too high.
Garage-to-House Doors
The interior door from the attached garage into the living space gets the most aggressive sweep system — typically an automatic drop-sweep that retracts when the door opens (so it does not drag) and drops onto the threshold when the door closes. Combined with a tight perimeter weatherstrip (covered under whole-home weatherstripping), this is the primary defense against garage dust, vehicle exhaust, and code-required infiltration containment per IRC R302.5.1.
Basement-to-House and Crawlspace Hatch Sweeps
The door at the top of the basement stairs or the access hatch over a crawlspace, where the unconditioned basement or crawlspace is below the living space. These boundaries are usually overlooked because the basement is below grade and feels less cold than the front porch — but a leaky basement door pulls cold damp air directly into the kitchen above. We fit a sweep matched to the door and threshold condition.
Threshold Inspection and Adjustment
Many drafty doors do not need a new sweep — they need the existing threshold adjusted. The threshold cap on most modern entry doors is an adjustable aluminum bar with set screws underneath; over years of expansion-contraction the cap drops below the sweep contact line. We turn the set screws to raise the cap until the existing sweep seats — sometimes a 5-minute fix that does not need any new material at all.
Door-Bottom Condition Check
A wood door whose bottom has rotted or splintered, or a steel door whose bottom edge has rusted out, will not hold a new sweep without prep. We inspect the door bottom, treat rot with consolidant, scribe out rotted wood and patch with epoxy where the structural condition allows, and recommend a door-bottom replacement (a $60 wood part installed in 90 minutes) where the rot is past saving. We are honest about which doors need a sweep and which need a door bottom first.
How Door Sweep Installation Works
Six steps from the threshold profile inspection to the no-bind, no-drag swing test — the actual sequence we follow on every exterior and garage-to-house door sweep.
Threshold and Gap Inspection
Open the door, run a flashlight along the gap between the door bottom and the threshold, measure the actual clearance at both corners and the middle. Many drafty doors do not need a new sweep — they need the existing threshold cap raised on its set screws to put the existing sweep back in contact.
Door Bottom Condition Check
Inspect the door bottom for rot on wood doors or rust on steel-clad doors. A rotted or rusted door bottom will not hold a new sweep without prep — we treat with consolidant, scribe out and epoxy-patch where structurally sound, or recommend a door-bottom rail replacement where the damage is past saving.
Sweep Type Match
Pick the sweep that fits the threshold profile and the door material — aluminum-track with vinyl fin for flat thresholds, brush sweep for textured or rounded sills, automatic drop sweep for the garage-to-house door, fin-seal pile strip for sliding patio doors. Wrong sweep on the right door is why most sweeps fail.
Old Sweep Removal
Unscrew the failed sweep from the interior face of the door bottom, scrape any old adhesive or foam tape clean, wipe the surface with denatured alcohol so the new sweep mounts to clean material. Worn pile and torn vinyl get set aside on the porch for haul-away.
New Sweep Mounted and Adjusted
Screw the new aluminum track to the interior face of the door bottom on slotted holes, slide the vinyl fin down until it just kisses the threshold without binding, lock the screws. Sliders get the panel pulled, pile strip replaced, track cleaned and rollers checked before the panel goes back in.
Swing Test and Flashlight Verification
Swing the door open and closed three times to confirm the sweep does not drag on the floor or bind on the threshold. Close the door and run a flashlight along the bottom from outside at night with someone watching from inside — no beam comes through. Light enough to swing free, tight enough to seal.
Door Sweep Installation Pricing
Final pricing depends on the sweep type, the door material, and whether the threshold needs adjustment or the door bottom needs repair before the sweep can seat. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us which doors are drafty — we will quote the right sweep for each one.
Why Choose a Professional for Door Sweep Installation?
Most door sweep failures trace back to a sweep that was the wrong size for the gap, mounted at the wrong height, or attached to a door bottom that was already rotting. The fix is rarely the cheap roll of foam-tape sweep from the hardware store stapled to the door bottom — that lasts 90 days and then drags or pulls off. The fix is an adjustable aluminum-and-vinyl sweep sized to the actual gap, mounted with the right screw spacing, and adjusted so the fin just kisses the threshold without binding the door. After a few hundred door sweep installs on Seattle craftsman, mid-century, and modern entry doors, every common threshold-and-sweep combination has a known answer. We carry the sweep, the threshold tools, and the door-bottom prep materials in the truck.
Right sweep type for the threshold profile and door material
A flat aluminum threshold takes a different sweep than a rounded bronze sill. A fiberglass entry door takes different screws than a steel-clad door, which takes different screws than a 90-year-old solid-wood door. We pick from a stocked truck — aluminum-track with vinyl fin for standard exterior doors, brush sweep for textured thresholds, automatic drop sweep for garage-to-house doors, and pile-strip replacement for sliders.
Threshold adjusted first, sweep replaced second
Many drafty exterior doors do not need a new sweep — they need the existing threshold cap raised on its set screws to put the existing sweep back in contact. We check the threshold adjustment before we sell you a new sweep. The 5-minute threshold tune is a real fix, not a sales line.
Door bottom condition checked before the sweep goes on
A rotted wood door bottom or a rusted steel door bottom will not hold a new sweep without prep. We inspect the door bottom, treat rot with consolidant, patch with epoxy where structurally sound, or recommend door-bottom replacement where the damage is past saving. We will not install a fresh sweep on a door bottom that is going to fail in a season — that is dishonest work.
Door does not bind, does not drag, does not stick
A sweep that drags on the floor when the door opens is a sweep installed too low. A sweep that whistles air through the gap is a sweep installed too high. We seat the sweep at the slot positions where the vinyl fin just kisses the threshold — light enough that the door swings free, tight enough that no flashlight beam comes through from outside. Both tests on every install.
Insured, background-checked, 30-day guarantee
Every Handis door sweep technician carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening. If a sweep we installed comes loose, drags, fails to seal, or any vinyl tears within 30 days because of our workmanship or installation height, we come back and fix it at no extra charge. Quality sweeps carry 5 to 10 year manufacturer warranty on the aluminum track and 3 to 5 years on the vinyl fin.
Estimate
Tell us which doors are drafty (front, back, slider, garage-to-house, basement), the door materials if known (wood, fiberglass, steel-clad), and approximately how much daylight you can see under each — we will send back a clear estimate.
Customer Reviews
Recent door sweep installation reviews from verified Seattle customers.
Could feel cold air across the floor of the entryway from the front door in winter — bad enough that we kept a rolled towel at the base. Tech adjusted the threshold first (turned out the cap had dropped on its set screws), then replaced the failed vinyl on the existing sweep. $80 total. He could have sold me a $120 new sweep and I would not have known. Appreciated the honesty.
Three-door whole-home set on our 1990 colonial — front, back, and the garage-to-house door. The garage door got the automatic drop-sweep that retracts when the door opens. No more dust tracking from the garage into the kitchen, and the entryway is no longer 6 degrees colder than the rest of the first floor.
Drafty slider in the dining room. Tech pulled the panel, showed me how the pile strip on the bottom had completely flattened, replaced it, and cleaned 12 years of dirt out of the bottom track. Slider closes easier, no more whistle on a windy day. 90-minute visit.
The back door on our 1924 craftsman had a wood bottom that had rotted through where rain had splashed up against it for decades. Tech scribed out the rot, epoxy-patched the section, then installed a new aluminum-and-vinyl sweep. Honest scoping — could have just stapled on a sweep over the rot and called it done.
Replaced the sweep on the garage entry door. The plastic strap kit they sold at the hardware store had failed three times. This tech installed a proper interlocking automatic sweep, said the strap kits last six months on a door that gets used twice a day. Two seasons in and it is still sealing perfectly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about door sweep installation and under-door draft sealing.