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How do you replace weatherstripping on an exterior door?

Updated August 2026

30–45 minutes · Easy DIY

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Plan on 30–45 minutes per door and $10–30 in materials: measure the jamb, pull the crushed or torn strip, clean the surface, fit new stripping on the two sides and the head, then finish with a sweep at the threshold. The test that tells you it is time is a dollar bill. Close the door on one and pull; if it slides out with no drag, that spot is an open gap. An eighth-inch gap around a standard 3-by-7-foot door adds up to about 30 square inches of opening, the same as leaving a 5-inch-square hole in your wall all winter.

What you need

Before you start: Two small hazards and one expensive mistake. Cut stripping on a bench rather than against the jamb, and pull the utility knife toward the floor and away from your free hand. Second, if the door sits behind a full-glass storm door on a south wall, do not seal the space tighter with heavy foam: trapped heat between the two doors can bake a wood slab and voids some manufacturer warranties. Third, never force a door that suddenly will not latch on new stripping. Step down a thickness instead, or you will bend the strike and split the stop.

Steps

  1. Diagnose first. Close the door on a dollar bill at the top, both sides, and the latch corner, and mark every spot where it pulls free without drag. Then kill the interior lights at midday and look for daylight around the frame.
  2. Identify what your jamb takes. A groove routed into the jamb means kerf-in bulb stripping, which pulls out and pushes back in with no fasteners. A flat jamb takes adhesive foam tape or V-strip. A steel door with a magnetic seal takes a matching magnetic replacement.
  3. Pull the old strip. Kerf-in comes out with a steady tug, nailed strips lift with a pry bar, and adhesive foam scrapes off with a putty knife and denatured alcohol. Get every trace of old adhesive off, because new tape will not stick to it.
  4. Measure each side and the head, add an inch to each, and cut the new stripping with scissors. Miter the two top corners at 45 degrees so they close cleanly against each other.
  5. Fit the sides first, then the head. Kerf-in presses into the groove with the bulb facing the door slab. Foam tape goes on the jamb stop, not the door edge, so the closed door compresses it. V-strip mounts with the open side of the V facing outward.
  6. Set the compression right. The strip should touch the slab all the way around under light pressure. Too thick and the door will not latch; too thin and you are back where you started.
  7. Swap the threshold sweep. Unscrew the old one, fit the new sweep or door bottom, and adjust it so it brushes the threshold without dragging hard enough to scuff the finish off.
  8. Retest with the dollar bill at six points. Every one should grip. If the latch side still leaks, move the strike plate about 1/16 inch toward the stop so the door pulls in tighter.

Or hire it out

A handyman charges $75–200 per door to supply and fit new weatherstripping and a sweep, most of it labor and trip fee on a 45-minute job. A full door-bottom and adjustable threshold assembly is $40–90 in parts and pushes an installed job toward $250. Since the materials are $10–30 and the tools are already in the drawer, this is one of the better DIY-versus-hire trades in the house.

Done. Now the part everyone skips: doing it again on schedule. Log it in OnOtto and the next reminder for weatherstripping swaps sets itself.

Log this task, get the next reminder

Frequently asked questions

V-strip, foam tape, or kerf-in bulb: which do I buy?

Match the jamb, not the price. Kerf-in bulb seals go in a routed groove, cost $10–25 per door, and are the most durable option by a wide margin. V-strip (tension seal) works on flat jambs, tolerates a slightly warped door, and runs $5–15. Adhesive foam tape is the cheapest at $5–10 and the shortest-lived, crushing flat in 1 to 3 years. Silicone bulb seals cost more and stay flexible below freezing.

The sides seal fine but the bottom corners still leak.

Corners are where the sweep, the side stripping, and the threshold all meet, and none of them quite reaches. Raise the threshold with the adjustment screws under the cap first, a quarter turn at a time until a dollar bill drags. If that is not enough, add stick-on corner seal pads, which are $8–12 a pair and made for exactly this gap. A door that leaks at only one bottom corner is usually sagging on a worn top hinge.

How long should weatherstripping last?

Foam tape crushes flat in 1 to 3 years, V-strip goes 5 or so, and a good kerf-in bulb seal can reach 10 to 15 on a door that is not slammed. A front door that cycles a dozen times a day wears out far faster than a basement door nobody uses. Check them each fall with the dollar-bill test. Weatherstripping intervals has the by-type schedule, and what weatherstripping is covers the terms.

What about the door between the garage and the house?

That one earns priority, since it separates living space from exhaust fumes and big temperature swings. Many codes require it to be self-closing and fire-rated, so use a compatible seal and leave the closer alone. While you are out there, check the rubber seal along the bottom of the garage door itself, which hardens and cracks in 5 to 10 years, then do the rest in lubricating a garage door.

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