Should we add door thresholds/saddles?

We have two doors that allow a lot of air and sound underneath. One is an exterior door (so a lot of heat escapes) and another is a teenagers’ bedroom (so a lot of music escapes) . Neither has a saddle underneath — with the exterior door it just goes straight from stucco to wood floor, and the floor is continuous under the interior door. I want to add sweeps on both but it is challenging: they would be in contact with the floor for the full swing of the door because the whole thing is at the same level.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Did you add saddles under the doors or do something else? I gather it’s unusual to have a door saddle if the flooring is continuous but it seems like the right solution here…

Thanks!

Guest User | 4 years and 10 months ago

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stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago

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b stone doors should mention that the units he is talking about self level when they are closed. this overcomes the issues of sweeps that have to be dropped too low to hit the saddle or floor then drag and break when the door is opened.

there are also under door fixed sweeps but these are problematic over uneven surfaces. keep in mind a lot of product is for modern homes that are level.

if anyone wants a horrible looking commercial unit for the surface of a door, i have one here in zip 11379 for free. i found it yesterday in my sweep collection. looks new. missing rubber gasket. not sure what it had cost and where to get the gasket. its been here for some time. i would bring it to Habitat for Huminaity but i am afraid no one will no what it is and it will languish in a pile of stuff.

www.thetinkerswagon.com

stevecym | 4 years and 10 months ago

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if your floors are level and your door swings level, you can install a simple and attractive wood topped seep like the oak one offered by MD Hardware. Harry’s hardware in Middle Village keeps them in stock for me. and others by randall products of newark. these are not the tacky looking metal sweeps our favorite big box store sells.

if your floors are not level and you install a simple sweep, you may be forced to lower the sweep too much to form a seal and then when yow swing the door, it drag on the floor and become damaged. in this case, you would install a saddle and lower the sweep to it. this will have enough clearance as it passes over the floor, so it does not tear.

i currently make my own sweeps by taking a rubber sweep with adhesive backing and putting that on the door and putting rabbeted stop molding above it, to help hide it and make it look like it belongs there. i then finish it like the doors. i do this because the M&D and Randall Sweeps sometimes split.

the product brownstone doors uses works but is a little more work to install. I s tay away from them. we had them on the inside of commercial doors in the city so people outside certain offices could near hear conversations. it they stop sound, cold air is not an issue for them.

steve
www.thetinkerswagon.com

JohnHancock | 4 years and 10 months ago

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I saw that on this old house and it looks like a fantastic way to keep the draft out

Guest User | 4 years and 10 months ago

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Brownstonedoors, love this suggestion!

Guest User | 4 years and 10 months ago

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For this condition we use a mortised automatic door bottom. The gasket will lower when the door is closed to engage to the floor. A surface mount version is also available, but it is ugly. ;(

https://www.tmsoundproofing.com/Soundproof-Door-Bottom-Mortised.html?sku=DSZ364A36 [Automatic door bottom](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s2/:brownstoner:nIfV:automaticdoorbottom.jpg.jpg)

Arkady | 4 years and 10 months ago

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For the exterior door I’d recommend both a saddle & a sweep.

slimc | 4 years and 10 months ago

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I added saddles to my interior doors in one bedroom to keep the cool air conditioning in and provide some quiet. They work well.