Cold air and water get in under the garage door

Who they are

Linda keeps a chest freezer and her garden tools in the garage and walks through it to the house every day.

Their home and door

An attached garage with an uninsulated steel door and a bottom seal that has been there longer than she has.

What went wrong

In winter a cold draft comes under the door, and after a storm there is water and slush on the floor just inside it.

What they searched

• “best garage door bottom seal”
• “how to keep garage floor dry in winter”
• “does garage door insulation really work in summer?”

What they learned

• Press the bottom seal with your thumb: if it does not spring back, it is done. A U-shaped bottom seal lasts about five to ten years, and a 16-foot replacement strip runs about $15 to $40. Source: Best garage door weather seal
• A threshold seal on the floor needs a dry week above 50°F to install. Source: Best garage door weather seal
• A single-skin steel door has an R-value of essentially zero, and even a well-insulated door loses most of its benefit to a failed bottom seal. Source: Garage door insulation R-value, explained