I'd like to see a product offered that combines P-section-type weather-strip with expanding urethane foam like 'Great Stuff' inside it, so when you installed it in a door or window that had an uneven gap, your foam would expand it to form a custom seal that fits the gap perfectly.
Many times I've had to staple two or three layers of the regular p-insulation to fill an uneven gap. I could use the foam-rubber type, but I think it doesn't work well because it wears too quickly and the open-cells can get dirty and wet.
I first thought of this when I cut a door into a wall that could enter the attic over our living room. I needed to seal a rough 2x4 to the custom 2x4 door I had made. These items weren't made with precision and the gap between them was huge. Also, it was wedge-shaped, so the door could open. I stapled a trash bag onto the wall 2x4, ran a strip of foam down it, folded it over, stapled again and closed the door. The next day, the foam had expanded and the seal I created was very pleasing.
The product I'm talking about wouldn't be a plastic-bag, it would be similar to the current vinyl p-section weatherstripping you buy--it could stick-on or be stapled, but the material would have to be more elastic than vinyl. I think EPDM would be stretchy-enough. Anyway, it could be designed to have 'packets' of compressed urethane foam in the hole of the P-section and after you've stapled or stuck it in place, you use a hammer or something to open or break them. The foam starts to expand--you close that door and leave it closed until the foam has stretched the weatherstrip to fit the gap--a couple of hours min. Instead of the 'packets' you could plan a way to actually squirt the foam in using a regular can and seal the opening before the foam is pushed back out--maybe with a one-way 'heart' valves every foot?
We have to plan a way to prevent the foam from coming out the end of the tube, too. I suggest we just kink-it and staple it down.
This seems like such a simple idea. I'm surprised I didn't find it in google or Home Depot. Does anybody know of a product like this? think this would work?
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a new door? Wouldn't it be more economical to just get a new door that actually fits the opening? Heck, the exterior door to my house has rubber seals and a 5 point locking frame as a single unit - modern construction tech should make this problem economically redundant in a drive for zero-energy heating housing. Carpentry has known how to make a fitting door for thousands of years without expanding foam, and due to its brittle qualities, it would not endure in being compressed and worn-on over time.
I envision your suggestion differently. When fitting doors to kitchen cabinets, its difficult to get the rebated recessed edges to match the opening exactly. So after fixing the hinges, perhaps the door has built-in an expanding foam-behind EDPM concept for half an inch around the rebate. Then when the foam is released, the cabinet door can fit perfectly like you describe. Such a system would greatly improve the quality of quick cabinetry for kitchens and be a much more likely big-seller.
Sweetheart, you're absolutely right--when you buy a new door, it has good weatherstrip and it fits square and tight. Unfortunatly, my house has seven doors and though I've replaced some of them, when I first install them they fit perfectly, but years later, they don't. I suppose I need to re-shim them. But weatherstripping is easier.
Pretty much the purpose of weatherstripping that is sold over the counter is to fix old doors and windows. If everybody had new, they wouldn't need to sell it. We have plenty of poor windows too.
I have daughters that get dramatic and slam doors--no matter how hard I try to discourage it. We have indoor-outdoor dogs that stand outside and scratch at them--very good at destroying the weatherstrip. Really, only the wooden doors we have take this toll, but those are the doors we use the most. Metal doors are better, but not preferred aesthetically.
I can see and agree with your kitchen cabinet idea, but cabinets don't actually need to seal. It wouldn't hurt, though.
I think this is an excellent idea. You wouldn't really have to close the ends because it's pretty easy to just scrape away any excess after it's dry. If you design it to be filled from the outside through holes, you wouldn't have to have valves either for the same reason. The biggest problem I would expect is that the foam will tend to expand too much and make the door too tight to open and close well. However, this could probably be solved. If nothing else, you could beat down the places that are too tight with a hammer till it's about right.