Twin Guard- A Solution to Drafty Outside Doors?

The Twin Draft Guard Door Guard Extreme probably will keep the wind from blowing under the door, but I think it will be perpetually wet.

Our kitchen door had lost the rubber weatherstrip on its lower edge, and whenever storms came from that direction, the water just puddled on the kitchen floor, the gap was so large! This Extreme door guard claims to block extra large gaps under doors.Sounds good, so we are giving it a try.

It fits doors up to 36" wide, and the foam cores are larger than the non-extreme variety. These are 2" in diameter. If your door is less than 36 inches wide you can just cut the foam with scissors or a knife. The foam is sort of a medium density styrofoam. Each foam noodle comes in two 18" lengths, and you have to connect these together. There is a plastic collar on the end of a noodle that you pull out a bit, and then push the other foam into it. This took longer than I expected, but it turned out to be really easy if you squeeze and twist a little bit. The collar isnt very long, but I suppose that noodle cant go anywhere when its inside the cover.

The cover is a dark brownish gray, made of twill fabric. It has two long pockets with a gap between them. You just slide the foam into the pockets. The open end folds over and has a velcro tab that will hold it down. This was all really easy, and when I folded the corners of the end flap in before folding the whole thing over it made a neat end. The fabric tubes are looser than I would like. Id prefer that they fit snugly on the noodles. Im not sure why. It doesnt look terrible, but it just seems to me like it should fit better.

This is going to be used on an outside door, which is how they show it. The first thing I learned is that even though the weatherstripping may be gone from the door, the threshold on the floor is still in place, and this interferes with the draft guard. Not enough to make it unuseable, but it will be annoying. If you open the door fully, the outer roll will pull completely down onto the inside floor and then to close the door you will have to lift that roll just a little bit to get it started again. This is easily seen in the video.

The door guard makes it so that you have to work harder to close the door. Probably not an issue for adults, but it would be one more reason for kids to not get the door closed.

Pros:
Easy to assemble
It appears that this will definitely stop drafts.
Cover is washable
It travels with the door, so you dont have to push it back against the crack like a one-side draft guard

Cons:
Ugly color
Im really concerned about the twill fabric just hanging out in the weather and being wet all the time
Makes the door work harder

The video was made at about 5 pm. It is now 11 pm and the fabric is wet not only outside, but capillary action has pulled water in and there are big wet spots on the fabric on the inside of the door. This is a steel door, so it probably wont hurt it, but I definitely would not use this on a wood door.

If I have any further insights as we use the Door Guard Extreme, Ill add an update.

Update On Dec 29, 2009: About 80% of the time I have to bend down and lift the outer roll a bit to get the door to close with this on. Also, it caused the door to freeze shut one icy day. It has stopped the bulk of the draft, but at a "price"

Update On Nov 13, 2010: I can hardly explain how much I have come to loathe this device. Hubby likes it, but he doesn't have to open and close that door 6-10 times a day. It almost always needs to be lifted on the outside to get the door to shut. Yes, you read that right. I have to stick a finger through the door opening, lift, and pull my hand out quickly while shutting the door fast. If it's at all wet, it's twice as obnoxious. But, of course, the darn thing won't rot and fall apart so that I could throw it away without depression-era-style guilt.