After the blower-door test, I made a short list of the obvious air leaks. Chimney. Loft hatch. Cat flap. And the front door.
The front door wasn’t dramatic. No visible daylight. No howling noise. Just a steady, ankle-level cold that made the hallway feel like a bus shelter.
When you already know the house leaks air, that sort of cold stops feeling mysterious. It’s just pressure doing what pressure does.
How I checked it
Nothing clever.
I waited for a breezy day and did three quick tests:
- Tissue test along the threshold and latch side
- Incense stick near the hinges and letterbox
- Hand on the floor inside the door, especially where the skirting meets the tile
The biggest movement was at the bottom edge and the latch side. The letterbox wasn’t great either, but it wasn’t the main culprit.
The floor right inside the door was consistently colder than the surrounding hallway, even after the heating had been on for an hour.
What I didn’t do
I didn’t foam anything.
I didn’t glue rubber everywhere.
I didn’t buy “architectural heritage” seals at five times the price.
This is a front door that needs to open, close, latch, and not annoy everyone who uses it.
The £20 fix
Three parts. All boring. All reversible.
- Brush strip for the bottom of the door
Screwed on, not stuck. Long enough to lightly touch the threshold, not drag. - Compression seal for the frame
Thin, adhesive-backed foam, fitted to the stop where the door actually closes. Not the thick spongy stuff that kills the latch. - Letterbox brush insert
This was more about comfort than raw leakage, but it stopped the cold plume you feel when you walk past.
Total cost was just under £20.
The one mistake I nearly made
Over-sealing the latch side.
If you compress the seal too much, the door still closes, but the latch doesn’t fully engage. You only notice later when the door pops back open or rattles in wind.
I backed the seal off by a couple of millimetres and retested. Door shuts cleanly. No resistance. No bounce.
Before and after
I didn’t bother with anything fancy.
- Before: You could feel a steady pull at ankle height on a windy day. The hallway floor stayed cold long after the rest of the house had warmed up.
- After: No noticeable air movement. The floor near the door comes up to temperature with the rest of the hall. The space feels calmer.
The biggest change is psychological. You stop bracing yourself when you walk past the door.
Why this works
The front door sits right on the pressure boundary of the house.
Every extractor fan, every gust of wind, every temperature difference tries to pull air through it. Even a few millimetres of gap adds up over hours and days.
This isn’t about making the house “sealed.” It’s about stopping air from sneaking in where it was never meant to.
What’s next
This fix only makes sense because other ventilation still works.
The bathroom extract, kitchen fan, and door undercuts still move air deliberately. Random gaps don’t.
Next up is the chimney. That one really is a wind tunnel.
But the front door was the easiest win so far, and probably the most felt.
