• Interior
• Window
• Walls
• Projects
• The buildings

How to insulate the door frame of a metal door. How to insulate a metal door: step-by-step instructions. Which insulation is better to use

How to insulate an iron entrance door - this question is relevant both for owners of apartments and private houses. This is due to the fact that metal doors are the most popular today, but the disadvantage of many such models is poor thermal insulation. In terms of safety, this is perfect option, can protect you from burglary, then there are many questions about the heat-insulating and sound-absorbing properties of such doors, but do not worry, this problem can be eliminated quite easily and quickly by following insulation work with your own hands.

Often the entrance door, especially a metal one, requires additional insulation

Materials

How can you insulate an iron entrance door? Today's market building materials provides a huge range of insulation materials various kinds. Depending on the minimum temperature in winter, you can purchase expensive and high-quality polyurethane foam or polystyrene. If you live in an area with a fairly warm climate, you can limit yourself to more simple materials. In such cases, mineral wool, polystyrene foam, foam rubber and isolon sheets are often used for insulation. From loose insulation materials For doors you can use polystyrene foam granules, polystyrene foam, or ecowool.

Mineral wool - traditional insulation for entrance doors

So how to insulate iron door and other structural elements in a private house can be done in several ways; the material must be selected based on the thickness of the metal, the structural features of the door, its standard filling and other characteristics. In addition, care should be taken to seal seams and cracks in the wall itself.

Internal insulation of a standard door

So, how to insulate an iron entrance door? Standard models are a sheet of metal reinforced with stiffeners. Some modern doors you can open them up and see their inner contents. Simple models- This single sheet thick steel. In both cases, this insulation method will be suitable.

First you need to remove all the fittings: handles, locks, peephole. It is necessary to take measurements from each section separated by stiffening ribs; based on these data, it is necessary to cut the insulation into fragments for each section, and then lay each piece in its place. The edges of the insulation should fit snugly against the walls of the door, so when cutting it is better to add 5-10 mm on each side. Using sealant or polyurethane foam seal all joints to eliminate cold bridges.

High quality construction front door always implies a layer of insulation

After this, a sheet identical in size to the door leaf is cut out of fiberboard or plywood. Place it on top of the insulation. Using metal screws, screw the sheet tightly to the door leaf. Depending on the type of metal, you may additionally need a drill, then the plywood is secured with screws.

Internal insulation of non-demountable models

If you have installed complex model, which cannot be disassembled, then such an iron door can be insulated from the inside in another way; unlike the previous ones, this method is even simpler. For this, dry insulation in granules is used; walls and roofs are also insulated in a similar way. What is the principle of working with dry insulation? There is no need to lay it down or secure it additionally, you just need to fill it up hollow space inside door leaf, small granules will fill all the voids. To evenly distribute the material and compact it better, you need to knock on the sides of the door or shake it, tapping it on the floor, if this is, of course, possible.

Expanded polystyrene granules will help solve the problem of insulating a non-removable entrance door

Polystyrene foam granules or foam balls are most often used as insulation for such cases. Previously, sawdust was used, but their thermal insulation properties were much lower than those of modern materials.

One thing worth considering important detail: if you have a door installed with special locking bolts that are part of an anti-burglary system, this method of increasing thermal insulation properties should not be used.

The fact is that insulation granules can clog into this system and, thus, block the movement of these parts.

External insulation

Now let's look at how to insulate an iron door from the outside. In addition to internal insulation, you can attach insulation to the outside on top of the door leaf; this will not only allow you to achieve better effect, but will also transform appearance doors. To do this, you will need a piece of dermantine, slightly larger in size than the door itself and several strips of small width; with their help, sealing rollers are installed around the perimeter of the door.

Using glue and dermantine, a rolled piece of soft sealant is attached to the metal, then sheets of insulation are also attached to the canvas using glue; this can be foam rubber, polyurethane foam, isolon or mineral wool. Final stage– gluing dermantine. Its edges are rolled up so that the cuts are not visible and glued on top of the rollers. Then all the fittings are installed in place.

Seams and gaps

For achievement maximum efficiency It is necessary to ensure complete sealing of seams and joints. First of all, it is necessary to seal the cracks that remain after installing the door frame. Identifying them is quite simple: just bring your palm to the opening and move it along the entire perimeter; in places that require insulation, a draft will be felt. You can also use a burning candle; its flame will flutter intensely in the areas where there are cracks.

Silicone sealant is used to insulate the seams

You can insulate an iron door and door frame with your own hands using various materials. In order to seal cracks and joints, polyurethane foam is most often used. After hardening, the excess is cut off with a knife, and the remaining foam is covered with plaster or platbands. If you do not close it, the material will very quickly collapse under the influence of light. You can also use silicone or rubber sealant instead of foam, it is much more convenient to apply, and you can seal even the smallest cracks.

The next step is to insulate the joints of the door and hatch. The first way: rubber. To do this, you need to cut strips of small width and glue them around the perimeter of the loot. You can purchase ready-made parts, they will provide better insulation, as they will fit more tightly to the door leaf. In the closed position, this insulation will ensure complete sealing of the seams.

Second method: foam rubber. The principle of operation is the same; it is also installed around the perimeter of the hole. It is not difficult to find strips of foam rubber of the required width on the building materials market; they are convenient because one side of them is an adhesive tape, so they are very easy to attach. A more modern and reliable material is isolon. In appearance and the principle of fastening, these two products are almost identical.

Knowing how to insulate an iron door, you don’t have to be afraid that the winter cold will come knocking on your house. The process of improving doors yourself will not take much time, and the consumption of materials is relatively small, but you will be reliably protected not only from the penetration of strangers, but also from drafts and frost.

Having installed a reliable door between the street and the house, regardless of whether it is Chinese or European safe type, you definitely need to take care of the issue: how to insulate the entrance metal door until the cold weather.

Choosing a metal door with insulation

Whether you live in an apartment or a house, in any case, your home requires a reliable entrance door. This could be an inexpensive iron door made in China, or armored fabric with fireproof and bulletproof layers, the main thing is to choose a model whose cavities are filled with insulation. At the same time, it is extremely important to ask in advance what kind of thermal insulation is contained inside the sash, since very often honeycomb cardboard is used as insulation. The strength of this material is high to the same extent as its thermal conductivity. Very often internal filling steel door It is made of thin foam, which also does not contribute to high-quality insulation.

Basalt thermal insulation is considered the best option today. Of course, if the placement inside the sash is poor, the mineral fiber will settle over time under its own weight. But professionally made metal doors with such a filler, fixed over the entire area using horizontal ribs, will serve for a long time without the formation of freezing areas. There are also models with sawdust filling the internal cavity between the metal sheets. This solution significantly reduces the thermal conductivity of the street door.

But most often you have to buy budget options, with completely absent insulation, and also without interior panel, or upholstered on the inside with tightly fitted boards or timber. In this case, you need to look for options on how to insulate the metal entrance door yourself. Foam rubber can be used as a material to fill the space between the stiffeners, which is best used in combination with batting, as well as polyurethane foam or, in extreme cases, polystyrene foam. Thermal insulation can be done both inside and outside.

The simplest ways to insulate a metal entrance door

There are several ways to attach thermal insulation to the inner surface of a metal door, but no matter which one you choose, you should definitely prepare the inner lining. It could be plywood, fiberboard, MDF or even a sheet of plastic. Next, pay attention to what material the frame and sash stiffeners are made of. Most likely, it will be a square profile, which is most convenient for attaching the internal lining. If the door frame is made of angle iron, it is best to make thermal insulation from the outside by making a special frame from slats for this purpose. True, in this case outer skin it is better to choose based on its appearance, that is, it should be a decorative material.

But let’s return to how to insulate an iron entrance door from the inside. Let's say foam is chosen as thermal insulation. To secure it we need glue. First, we prepare the inner lining according to the dimensions of the door, cutting out holes on it for locks and a peephole (if the cutouts should be complex shape, process with a file). Next, we cut off fragments of the required size from the expanded polystyrene sheet based on the space between the stiffeners. We apply glue in dotted lines along the perimeter of the foam plastic cuts, which are then pressed tightly against the door leaf.

The next stage is installation internal lining. We have already prepared the sheet for this purpose, all the slots have been made in it, all that remains is to secure it. Since the fitting will have to be done on the frame and door stiffeners, it is necessary to pre-drill holes, identifying the fastening points. We carry out drilling immediately through the skin, so that later, after applying it, we do not lose the location of the holes. For installation we use ordinary self-tapping screws. For decorative purposes, we process the fixed sheet at the edges, slightly rounding them.

When laying insulation, you can use polyurethane foam as a fixation, which is applied not only to inner surface sash, but also on the side planes of the stiffeners.

Thermal insulation of the entrance door from the outside is carried out in a similar way. The only difference is that there is no frame and stiffening ribs made of profiles, between which insulation can be placed. Therefore, for high-quality fastening of the material, it is necessary to first install a limiter - a frame made of wooden slats. This structure is screwed with self-tapping screws directly to the door leaf, for which you need to drill holes for the screws in the surface of the leaf. We do it in one large sheet. Then the entrance street insulated door is covered from the outside decorative cladding. You can even paste over or upholster with thick fabric or leatherette.

What should an insulated street entrance door be like?

On the eve of winter, it is necessary to insulate not only door leaves, but also frames. It’s good if they are purchased already with thermal insulation; if this is not available, it is recommended to place the filler inside the door frame at the stage of installation in the opening. Most the best option– fill a void in a profile or channel mortar, in which are mixed sawdust. However, as mentioned above, most often we are offered inexpensive metal doors with a complete lack of thermal insulation as “economy” class models. And, if it was not possible to insulate the sash and frame during the installation process, you still need to find an opportunity and subsequently fill the voids with insulation.

Some kind of loose filler is best suited for this purpose. This can be expanded vermiculite, expanded clay, and even ordinary ones will significantly reduce the thermal conductivity of the door. To install the insulation, it is enough to make holes in the top of the box. The main thing is that there are no slits or cracks at the bottom to avoid filler spillage. As alternative option polyurethane foam or, in other words, polyurethane foam can be used. To fill this sealant, holes must be made along the entire height in the box at certain intervals, filling the profile from bottom to top. The only drawback of this method is the inability to fully control the quality of filling the cavities and the need to close the box with decorative trims at the end of the work.

Cold penetrates into housing not only in places where there is no thermal insulation, but also with drafts that occur in the presence of the slightest cracks. These appear when the front door does not fit tightly to the frame, which in most cases is typical for metal doors. You can solve the problem on your own: if you detect a gap due to increased air draft, it is enough to place a seal between the door and the frame. Can be purchased at a hardware store or hardware store foam strip with self-adhesive backing, or manually cut the foam rubber and fix it with PVA. Also, porous rubber, padding polyester, felt and even leatherette are quite suitable as a sealant. The latter is best used with any of the other materials listed, as a reinforcing wrap, that is, wrap a strip of leatherette in a long roll with foam rubber or padding polyester inside.

A high-quality metal door gives a feeling of reliability and security, but at the same time it also has significant drawbacks. Due to its thermal conductivity, condensation often appears on the door, which has an adverse effect on the metal and destroys it over time. In addition, a metal door does not retain heat well, so you need to know how to insulate a metal door from the inside.

How to insulate a metal front door with your own hands

In order for the house to always be warm, and the door to serve for a long time and not be subject to corrosion, it must be insulated from the inside. The choice of materials is quite large, but most often fiber or foam plastic is used. Thermal insulation boards cover cold bridges and form a microclimate that does not allow cold to penetrate into the room.

Fiber-based slabs are non-flammable stone and mineral wool in rolls or slabs. This material retains heat well and does not allow outside noise to pass through. The main advantage of fiber boards is their ease of installation.

Significant disadvantage Such insulation is lack of moisture protection, that is, when moisture gets in, volume is lost and the quality of thermal insulation decreases. Fibrous materials It is advisable to use it to insulate the entrance door in an apartment building.

For private houses, you need to take moisture-proof material as the basis for insulation. Polystyrene or polystyrene foam is perfect for this purpose. These materials are produced in the form of slabs. Polystyrene foam is a foamed material with air bubbles, and polystyrene contains nitrogen instead of air, which allows it to be improved performance and increase resistance to high temperatures.

Step-by-step instructions: insulating the front door

For work, in addition to insulation, you will need:

1. Chipboard, MDF or plywood.
2. A larch beam equal to the thickness of the protruding elements of the door.
3. Polyurethane foam.
4. A sharp thin knife.
5. Polymer tape.
6. Putty or cement mortar.
7. Putty knife.
8. Universal glue.
9. Screwdriver and jigsaw.

The frame for the front door is often made of a metal corner. This frame is secured with iron pins. The gaps left during installation of the frame are sealed with foam. If, when insulating the door, the foam changes color to yellow or brown, then it must be removed and the holes foamed again. Before sealing cracks, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the surface and moisten it for better adhesion. After the foam has hardened, the excess is cut off and puttied or plastered. The plaster should go over the box in order to securely fasten it and make it invisible.

Before starting work, you need to remove all the fittings from the door. Then a frame is made from timber. The beam goes along the perimeter and has two crossbars. It is attached with self-tapping screws so that they do not come out outside doors. Thermal insulation material is cut with thin stationery or ordinary sharp knife.

Insulation is inserted between the frame and the metal. It can be glued to the surface, fastened between the beams, or used both methods together. The gap between the insulation should be minimal.

The glue is applied in an even layer, after which the insulation is glued to the surface. For a better fit, you need to press it and hold it for a couple of minutes. If there are gaps after gluing, they need to be filled with foam or thin strips of polystyrene placed on the glue.

Then the door trim is done. This will protect the insulation and decorate the door leaf. For these purposes, laminated MDF, chipboard or plywood is taken, which has moisture-proof properties and is covered with leatherette.

A sheet is cut from the sheet to the size of the outside of the door. Holes for fittings are cut in the canvas using a jigsaw. If plywood is used, it must be covered with dermantine. Fastening is done with a furniture stapler, and the folds of the leather go to the inside. Decorative nails are then driven into the top.

Then the frame on the door is smeared with glue and the canvas is pressed. For reliability, it is secured with self-tapping screws. Self-tapping screws are taken with decorative caps and screwed in at forty-centimeter increments around the perimeter of the door.

Then the fittings are inserted. AND the final stage, the polymer tape is being glued to door frame, which will protect the door from cold bridges.

A properly insulated metal door will protect the house from cold and moisture for many years, and also have an attractive appearance, without losing its soundproofing qualities. Do-it-yourself repairs will help correct any shortcomings in the materials used. Insulate the door in a private house, garage or apartment, then in winter time the room will be warm and cozy.

Now we will look at how to insulate a metal entrance door yourself in a cottage or country house, using affordable materials and a minimum of the most ordinary tools. Why is this so necessary? How can you insulate a metal front door yourself?

In a country house or cottage, the issue of energy saving is especially acute, because outside the city, as a rule, the temperature is lower and the humidity, on the contrary, is high. In such conditions, the front door plays a special role - the first barrier against adverse weather conditions.

A high-quality entrance door to a cottage simply must be warm and tightly fitted to the door frame so as not to let cold air, moisture, foreign odors and sounds into the room. This is especially true for metal doors country house, since metal has high thermal conductivity and does not retain cold well. So here's what you'll need.

Insulation methods

First of all, you need to find out how to insulate a metal entrance door, which method to use in this particular case. It depends on the design of the door itself, if at least one of the panels ( steel sheets) is attached to the door frame with self-tapping screws, you can use the method of internal insulation of the door. By the way, this method is considered preferable both from the point of view of the quality of insulation of the metal entrance door and from an aesthetic point of view.

But if the door is solid, that is, the metal sheets are secured with a weld, you will have to resort to external insulation of the door. There is another, unusual, way; about him - below.

First, a list of necessary tools:

• screwdriver or screwdriver;
• drill and metal drills;
• sharp knife and scissors;
• wood hacksaw with fine teeth;
• an awl or just a thin nail;
• medium grit sandpaper.

Then you should decide on the insulating material.

In principle, you can choose almost any soft or porous material as insulation:

• mineral or glass wool;
• basalt slabs;
• polystyrene foam (polyurethane foam, polystyrene foam);

It is better to immediately select foam plastic according to the thickness of the door frame, that is, according to the distance between the sheets covering it. Measure at the end.

• padding polyester;
• foam;
• and even wool batting;

Mineral wool and basalt insulation preferable from the point of view of lightness and fire safety; when heated they do not emit harmful substances. Polystyrene foam is cheap, widespread and easy to process. Wool batting and other similar natural materials have good thermal insulation properties, hygroscopic, that is, they easily absorb moisture, especially in conditions high humidity; this can lead to corrosion of the inside surface of the door. Foam rubber begins to “crumble” over time; the process speeds up if the door is on the south side of the cottage and heated by the sun's rays.

In addition, you will need:

• one solid sheet of laminated fiberboard no smaller than the door leaf;
• glue (“liquid nails”);
• polyurethane foam;
• a little gasoline, acetone or alcohol;
• sealant;
• two dozen short thin self-tapping screws.

The procedure for carrying out insulation work:

• First you need to unscrew the screws and remove a metal sheet, which covers the frame and internal cavities doors.

If work is carried out without removing the door from its hinges, the screws should be unscrewed starting from the bottom of the door, gradually moving up on both sides. After unscrewing a sufficient number of screws, you need to bend the bottom edge of the sheet quite a bit and place a stand of the appropriate height under it - say, a piece of board, otherwise the heavy sheet may bend or even break the last screws with its weight.

If the screws “don’t fit” (for example, they are rusty), it is better to remove the door, lay it horizontally on the boards and drip a special liquid or simply used machine oil onto the screws. In any case, this is easier than tearing off the screw heads and then drilling them out with a drill.

• We carefully measure the dimensions of the internal cavities of the door and cut off the foam or basalt insulation; or we measure required amount another, soft insulation. Apply a little glue to the inner surface of the door leaf between the frame parts and lay out the seal tightly.

Polystyrene foam (expanded polystyrene) can be sawed with a small hacksaw, cut with a hot knife, or even built with a special thermal cutter from taut steel wire and a low-voltage DC source. When cutting and laying out insulation, you need to take into account the presence of a lock. Some doors have a mechanism to operate additional deadbolts and may require some clearance to operate.

• There may be some unevenness and cracks left - they need to be filled with polyurethane foam.

Never fill with foam working space crossbar control mechanism. Squeeze out the foam carefully and a little - it expands quite violently. When expanding, the foam can displace (squeeze out) parts of the insulation; this must be monitored. Excess foam can be removed with a knife, but only after it has completely dried.

• We mark the size of the door leaf and cut off the fiberboard sheet.

To accurately cut fiberboard, you can lay it on a flat smooth surface Laminate side up, place the removed door panel on top, aligning the upper left corner of the panel with the corner of the fiberboard sheet. Then use a sharp knife, or better yet, a special cutter, to run several times around the perimeter of the canvas, cutting through the fiberboard. In this case, the cutter must be held at a certain angle so that the fiberboard cut does not turn out to be a millimeter larger than necessary; You also need to try not to tear off the paint from the door leaf. At the same stage, using a drill with a thin drill or an awl, you can make holes in the fiberboard through the existing holes in the canvas; It is better for an assistant to hold the entire structure. After this, the canvas is removed, the excess fiberboard is simply broken off; The lint is removed from the cut site with a sharp knife and sandpaper.

• We degrease the door frame around the perimeter with gasoline or acetone. Apply a thin strip of sealant and lay the fiberboard with the laminate side up.

To prevent the fiberboard sheet from “moving out,” we put several screws through the pre-made holes. Then, using a drill, we make three to five additional through holes in the fiberboard and frame on each side of the door and tightly fasten the fiberboard to the frame with self-tapping screws. The sheet should be fastened from top to bottom. The main thing is to sink the screw heads well into the fiberboard.

• We degrease the laminate and the removed door leaf around the perimeter, apply a thin strip of sealant and put the leaf in place.

It is important to place the canvas as it stood before, not upside down. It is best to install the canvas with the help of an assistant; if work is carried out on a door that has not been removed, use a wooden support under the underside of the metal sheet. It is advisable to tighten the screws loosely at first, and after installing all the screws, tighten them properly.

• Last steps:
  • if necessary, remove excess sealant from the ends of the door; if it has dried out, use a knife;
  • Additionally, you can take paint to match the color of the door and paint the ends of the fiberboard, screw heads and places where the original layer of paint was damaged during the work.

The internal insulation of a metal door of a country house is completed. Such a door is practically airtight and does not allow cold to pass through: the fiberboard sheet acts as an additional gasket between the outer cold sheet of metal and the rest of the door.

We insulate a metal door from the outside

If the door is solid, non-separable, you will have to use the option external insulation, as soon as you need to insulate the metal entrance door. However, it would be unfair not to mention one more thing, non-standard version, if you are wondering how to insulate a metal entrance door, he can help you.

A non-removable metal door of a cottage can be somewhat insulated by falling asleep inside bulk material, for example, the same polystyrene foam, but in the form of granules. But this method has its drawbacks.

To do this, you need to drill several fairly large holes in the door leaf, through which you pour the material into the internal cavities of the door. The locations for such holes can be determined by tapping the door. But, firstly, it will most likely not be possible to achieve dense filling of the cavities; secondly, this option is absolutely not suitable for doors with a mechanism for controlling additional crossbars - it may jam; thirdly, the holes in the metal will need to be closed with plugs, but even with the most careful execution this can worsen the appearance of the door.

For external insulation, you need almost the same materials and tools as for internal insulation, with the only difference being that additional 30x20 mm wooden planks are required to create the external frame.

In principle, you can use metallic profile U-shaped or rectangular section. But wood is much more convenient to process and more affordable from a purchasing point of view.

Stages of work on external door insulation:

• The door dimensions are measured and the horizontal and vertical slats, as well as the bulkheads of the future frame, are cut off.
• Using self-tapping screws through pre- drilled holes the slats are attached to the door leaf, creating an insulation frame.

You can ensure additional tightness of the structure by applying a very thin layer of sealant to the slats before installation. The slats should be fastened so that there is no “buckling” anywhere. The heads of the screws must be recessed into the material, for which additional recesses can be made in the slats using a drill of a larger diameter.

• The frame cavities are filled with insulation similar to the procedure for external insulation, using glue applied to the door leaf.
• Cut and install smooth side fiberboard sheet on the outside. You can also apply some sealant here. The sheet is fixed with screws. The screw heads must also be recessed into the material.

It’s better not to be lazy and drill holes slightly smaller than the diameter of the screws, so that the slats of the already finished frame filled with insulation do not crack in any case.

• The fiberboard sheet can be decorated with any in an accessible way- from simple painting to dermantin sheathing.

Insulation of the box

How to insulate a metal entrance door: in order to completely block the access of cold air inside a country house, it is not enough to insulate only the door itself - you also need to insulate the frame. Between the box and the sides doorway Unscrupulous installers sometimes leave quite wide gaps.

These gaps need to be addressed as soon as you realize it’s time to insulate your metal front door. This is done by blowing polyurethane foam into the cracks. After drying, the excess polyurethane foam is cut off, and the joint between the frame and the wall is plastered in several layers.

It is better to use professional foam, which will not “lead” the box when it expands. It is advisable to alternate layers of plaster with layers of reinforcing metal mesh, otherwise the plaster will soon simply crumble due to vibrations caused by impacts from closing a heavy metal door.

The very last step is to eliminate possible gaps between the door and the frame. This is the simplest stage - you just need to purchase a tape of rubber or foam rubber self-adhesive seal of the required thickness and glue it to the desired places on the door and frame. In addition, the seal will soften and make the impact of the door on the frame quieter.

Before laying the tape seal, the surface must be degreased. Rubber compressor It is preferable to foam rubber, it lasts longer. It is advisable to glue the insulation to places where it will not be torn off by feet or shoulders. For example, it is better not to be lazy and stick the seal not on the threshold of the frame, but on the bottom of the door - this way it will also become less dirty.

You can check the quality of the seal very simply, you need to open the window slightly opposite side cottage and run a damp hand around the perimeter of the door: if there is a draft, it will be immediately detected. In this case, you can simply add a little more sealant. Keep in mind that the seal will wear out over time and will still need to be replaced periodically.

Complete insulation of the external metal door of a country house with your own hands is completed. If all the work was carried out with due care, such a door will perform well in retaining heat and will last a very long time.

Durable, beautiful, strong, reliable - all these adjectives apply to metal door leaf. The epithet “warm” could be attributed here, however, this, alas, is not always the case. According to manufacturers of metal entrance doors, all of them are sold already insulated. That is, buy, install and enjoy the warmth in the room. In this case, insulation of metal door frames is not required at all.

In reality this is not the case at all. Having made an expensive purchase, the owner, with the arrival of cold weather, has to think about the question: how to insulate a metal front door? How to do this without spending too much? Since a lot of money had already been spent on the purchase. We will talk about how to insulate metal entrance doors in this publication.

As soon as the thermometer outside the window shows zero or below, you can almost always observe the following picture: inside a layer of frost begins to form on the front door. This is the first sign that the canvas is frozen. Why is this happening?

The reason for this is the structural features of metal entrance doors. Stiffness profiles, ends, and the box itself and even door knob act as a kind of cold bridges. What can be done if we insulate the front door with our own hands to minimize the transfer of cold through such bridges? Simply put, how to insulate the front door, making it warmer?

• If on your door installed in a private house or in an apartment (on its outside side) there is wooden overlay, you can remove it and lay a gasket made of foamed polyethylene. After which, the wooden overlay is installed back.
• If it is known that the factory insulation is cotton wool, it must be replaced. sheet expanded polystyrene or polyurethane foam. They need to be secured with polyurethane foam.
• You can place a thick polyethylene gasket under the handle cover. No matter how insignificant and insignificant this protection may seem, it will still prevent the fittings from becoming covered with ice, creating a barrier to the cold outside.

We insulate the door frame

In essence, the door frame is a rectangle of welded together metal corners, which is attached to the wall with iron pins embedded in the doorway. And it is the door frame of metal doors that is insulated first, even before the entrance metal door is insulated.

Insulation of the door frame of a metal door is carried out as follows:

• The wall adjacent to the steel door frame should be cleaned of old polyurethane foam or other sealant, if any. You should also remove the plaster on this section of the wall and remove all existing dust;
• Lightly moisten the resulting surface with water, and fill the gap between the door frame and the wall (if its depth is more than 200 millimeters) with new foam;
• After hardening, the protruding excess expansion foam should be carefully cut off with a penknife or an ordinary, but well-sharpened knife;
• Putty or plaster is applied on top of the evenly cut foam. This layer will simultaneously protect and decorate this surface. Cold air will no longer penetrate the premises.

We insulate the collapsible fabric from the inside

How to insulate an iron entrance door at a dacha or in a private house from the inside? Here a lot depends on the type of canvas. The latter, as you know, come in two types: non-collapsible and collapsible. We’ll talk a little further about how to insulate non-dismountable entrance panels. Now let's figure out how to insulate entrance doors whose panels are disassembled. The fact is that when insulating a door, the insulation of doors is not always carried out from the outside.

About which insulation materials are most suitable for this and how to insulate a metal entrance door with these thermal insulation materials, we already wrote in one of the publications. Let us only recall that insulation for entrance doors can be divided into two types: soft and hard. The latter are more preferable. They are more moisture resistant. And finishing a metal door with your own hands using this material is easier.

Insulation of a collapsible iron door is carried out using the following method:

• Actually, you should disassemble the canvas, first removing the inspection eye, handle, lock and other fittings on it;
• We remove the factory heat-insulating material;
• We lay our own insulation material in the place where the factory thermal insulation was.

This may be, for example, foam plastic or other similar heat-insulating material;

• As for fixing insulating materials: special glue is quite suitable for these purposes. In the absence of one, it is quite acceptable to use ordinary polyurethane foam for these purposes;
• If you still decide to use soft insulation, for example, mineral wool, foam rubber and so on similar materials, we recommend waterproofing them by placing these insulation materials in a plastic wrap.

You can additionally insulate a metal entrance door in a private house, for example, by replacing the metal card with another material, for example, laminate, thereby increasing the thermal insulation effect. To do this, you will need to weld corners around the entire perimeter of the iron doors, to which, subsequently, the laminate will be attached with self-tapping screws.

We insulate non-dismountable iron sheet

It happens that the design of the canvas cannot be disassembled. But it is still possible to insulate a door leaf of this type and it is not at all difficult as you might think. This is even somewhat simpler than insulating collapsible metal doors. So, how can you insulate an iron door if it can’t be taken apart?

Several holes with a diameter of 20-25 millimeters should be drilled in the upper end of the door leaf. Subsequently, these holes will need to be welded or sealed in another way. Insulation will be installed through these holes. For these purposes, dry, granular insulation should be used. To thermally insulate the canvas with such material, it does not need to be laid or secured.

Granulated polystyrene foam or foam balls are simply poured through holes drilled in the upper end. It is not advisable to use sawdust for this, since they do not have such high thermal insulation characteristics what modern materials have.

Laying and compacting granular insulation is done by shaking the door leaf and tapping on it.

We insulate from the outside

Now let's figure out how to insulate a metal door from the outside. Having completed internal insulation, you can enhance the insulating effect by securing, for example, foam boards to outer surface door leaf. In this way, you can insulate the door, or rather, its outer surface, and avoid freezing of the door leaf when the thermometer outside shows zero or below.

To cover a door with foam plastic, it is not necessary to take too thick slabs of this material - 10-15 mm thick is enough. This is also advisable because if the layer is too thick foam boards Upholstering a metal door with dermantine with your own hands becomes a very difficult task.

We have already read about how to sheathe the front door in another article of our project. I would just like to mention that it is prudent to cover doors with dermantine yourself, not only for decorative reasons. Besides that cladding material makes the door leaf more beautiful and stylish in appearance, the outer layer of the skin is also additional protection from external noise and cold air. Thanks to this, the comfort of home becomes even more tangible.

We insulate with seals

To complete all of the above, let’s pay a little attention to this type of insulation, such as sealing door gaps. Usually, to insulate a metal door with your own hands using a seal, it is enough to glue the seal or nail it to the ends of the door leaf in the form of rubber or silicone strips. The latter need to be glued. But the sealing rubber for insulating the door leaf is nailed with small nails or screwed with self-tapping screws.

So let's take some stock. Having figured out how to insulate an iron door, for example, on a country cottage, we can safely say that insulating an iron door with your own hands is not as difficult as it might seem. Even a person who is not experienced in repair matters can cope with this process.