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Doors & Locks

Weatherstripping & Draft Sealing in Toronto & the GTA

You can feel this job before you can see it: the cold stripe across your ankles by the front door in January, the daylight visible around the door when the hall is dark, the entry mat that's cold to the touch. Drafts are heated air leaking out and outdoor air leaking in through gaps around doors and windows — and in a Toronto winter, an entry door with failed seals leaks a surprising amount of the heat you're paying for. Draft proofing is the least glamorous, highest-payback work on any house.

Doing it properly is a hunt-then-seal sequence. We check each exterior door for the classic failures: flattened or torn weatherstripping in the jamb, a door sweep worn to bristle stubs, a threshold that no longer meets the door bottom, and — the one most people miss — a door so misaligned it can't compress its seals evenly, which means adjustment comes before any new foam or rubber goes on. Windows get their own pass: failed sash seals, gaps at the meeting rails, and leaky trim joints that want caulking. The test at the end is simple: no daylight around the door, and a strip of paper closed in the door should resist being pulled out at every point.

For a quote, list the doors and windows that feel drafty, send a photo of each problem door from inside with the hall light off and outside light on (the daylight gaps show up beautifully), and mention the door types — wood, steel or fibreglass, plus any sliding doors. If you want a whole-home draft sealing pass before winter, say so; that's the best-value version of this job.

What this covers

  • Door weatherstripping replacement — compression, foam, V-strip and kerf-in seals
  • Door sweep installation and replacement on entry and garage man-doors
  • Threshold adjustment and replacement so the door bottom actually seals
  • Door alignment so seals compress evenly on all four sides
  • Window draft sealing — sash seals, meeting-rail gaps and locks that pull sashes tight
  • Caulking exterior gaps at door and window trim
  • Draft sealing around baseboards, attic hatches and electrical penetrations
  • Patio and sliding door seal replacement
  • Whole-home draft audits — every exterior door and problem window in one visit
  • Mail slot, pet door and letterbox draft fixes

Just need one small job done?

Install a door sweep

What affects the price

  • Door condition — new seals on a well-aligned door take minutes, but a sagging or warped door needs adjusting first or the new weatherstripping seals nothing
  • Seal type the door was built with — kerf-in strips slide into a slot on modern doors, while older doors need surface-mounted seals, and matching the right profile is what makes it last
  • Threshold state — worn or sunken thresholds leave a gap no sweep can bridge, and replacement is a bigger step than a seal swap
  • How many openings — draft sealing is cheap per door once we're on site, so sealing every exterior door and problem window in one visit is the smart booking
  • Window style — casements, sliders and old double-hungs each seal differently, and some old windows benefit more from lock adjustment than new foam
  • Severity of air leakage — a home that whistles in wind may also need caulking and hatch sealing beyond the doors, which we'll scope honestly rather than oversell

Every home is different, so we don’t publish flat prices — the quote is free and based on your actual job.

Common questions

How do I know if my weatherstripping has actually failed?
Three quick tests. Look: with inside lights off, daylight visible around a closed door means gaps. Feel: run a hand around the frame on a cold, windy day and note where the cold streams in. Paper test: close a strip of paper in the door and pull — if it slides out easily anywhere, the seal isn't compressing there. Foam and rubber seals flatten and crack over five to ten years of door slams, so failure is a when, not an if.
Is draft sealing really worth doing, or is it a marginal improvement?
For a house with visibly failed door seals, it's one of the best-payback jobs there is — you're stopping a continuous exchange of heated indoor air with outdoor winter air, and comfort improves the same day: no more cold stripe by the door, fewer complaints about the room over the garage. It won't fix an under-insulated attic or old single-pane glass, and we won't pretend it does, but sealed doors and windows are the correct first step before bigger energy spending.
Why is the new weatherstripping I installed already leaking?
Almost always because the door isn't meeting it evenly. A sagged or warped door presses hard on one section of seal and never touches another, so the foam tears where it's crushed and gaps where it's missed. Doors get aligned first, then sealed — that order is the whole trick. The other common cause is the wrong profile: a seal too thin never compresses, too thick makes the door hard to latch, and the fix is matching the seal to the actual gap.
What's the difference between a door sweep and a threshold, and which do I need?
The sweep attaches to the door bottom and brushes or presses against the threshold — the sill piece fixed to the floor. They work as a pair: a fresh sweep can't seal against a worn, hollowed threshold, and a new threshold does nothing if the sweep is bald. We check both and replace what's actually failed. On older doors with big uneven gaps, an adjustable threshold plus a quality sweep closes gaps that a sweep alone never could.
Can you do anything about drafty windows without replacing them?
Usually, yes. Most window drafts come from failed sash weatherstripping, loose locks that don't pull the sash snug, and unsealed gaps behind the trim — all fixable without new windows. We replace accessible seals, adjust hardware so sashes close tight, and caulk the trim joints where air sneaks around the frame. If your glass itself is single-pane or fogged, sealing still helps but replacement is the eventual answer, and we'll give you a straight read on which you're dealing with.

Ready to sort out your weatherstripping & draft sealing?

Tell us what your home needs — a small fix or a full project — and get a free quote.

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