A DIY expert has shared two simple tasks that can help keep your home warm and potentially reduce heating costs this winter. Both tips involve your front or back door and require only basic tools you likely already have at home.
Adjusting Your Door's Summer and Winter Settings
John McGrath, known as Man In Shed on social media, regularly posts DIY tips and has over 67,000 followers on TikTok. In a recent video, he demonstrated how to adjust doors and windows between summer and winter settings, saying: "Winter is fast approaching, so here's some DIY hacks that will save you money. I'm going to show you how to adjust your windows and doors from a winter to a summer setting. That's right - they have a winter and summer setting."
John pointed to the round pins on the interior of a door that shift when the handle is turned, locking the door to the frame. He explained that a small line on one of the pins indicates the setting: "If it's all the way facing away from the door and towards the frame, that's in the most loose settings. That's essentially your summer setting."
He advised rotating the pin to a neutral setting or all the way in towards the door for the tightest, winter setting. "You can do that for all your windows and doors," he said. "Winter time, close everything up, get a nice tight seal, and then there's no air getting in around your windows."
Replacing Worn Door Seals
The second task involves checking the rubber-like seals on doors, which John noted "do compress over time and they do wear out." He showed how to ease the seal out of the frame using a flathead screwdriver, after which it can be easily removed.
"You can buy buckets of UPVC window and door seal," John said. "You can get universal ones that will fit any door and window. Most builders' providers will stock this stuff."
To fit the new seal, he demonstrated: "Just line it up with the notch that's there. And it's just a press fit. So once you get it started, you can just press fit it the whole way down." He cautioned against stretching the seal too much, advising to "just push it in and work it all the way down."
John concluded: "You can do that to all your windows and doors. Super simple. Save yourself some money, especially on your heating costs."
