As the colder, windy weather sweeps in, your front door is on the front line of defending your house from the winter elements. In order to keep your house warm and energy efficient, the front door must seal properly, keeping warm air in and cool air out.

If you’ve got a door that isn’t living up to its end of the bargain, it might have been installed incorrectly – making it nearly impossible to remedy.

“Essentially if the door is not installed the right way to begin with, it’s not going to seal properly,” Mohsen Salama of Clear Choice Windows & Doors Inc. in Tigard, Ore.

The Portland area door installation expert says if the door was not installed plum, level or square in the beginning, it will likely need to be adjusted. Simple weatherstripping will prove to be ineffective because the area isn’t flush, he explains.

“If you see a large gap on top of the door but it’s catching on the bottom of the door and you can see daylight because it’s such a large gap, you’re really only putting a Band-Aid on a wound,” Salama says.

When his customers run into this issue, Salama suggests ripping out the old door and starting from scratch.

“To do a proper adjustment, you might as well pull the entire door out and reinstall it,” he says. "There are very few instances where you can pull the trim and do minor adjustments. It’s generally speaking a little bit more intensive than that, and you have to really get into it.”

Although costly, Salama says the built-in weatherstripping and technology in today’s door is much more effective than doors installed several years ago.

For those who can’t budget a complete door installation, Bob Blanton of highly rated All Seasons Window & Door Co. in Charlotte, N.C., suggests replacing the door’s weatherstripping and putting a vinyl sweep on the bottom of the door.

“Also, the addition of a storm door would solve most of those issues,” the Charlotte door installation pro says.

If your door isn’t blocking winter weather, consider hiring a door installation company to help determine the best solution. Angie’s List can help connect you with a company that has been highly rated and recommend by members in your area. Brad Bays says Meyer Brothers & Sons Inc. of Hamilton, Ohio, installed several doors at his house during a recent remodeling project.

"It all went very well, and I was very happy with their products and I always have been," he says of the Cincinnati area door installation company.

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