Best way to insulate an old wooden door?

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We are just having our wooden door re-painted and would like to sort out the insulation round the edges while I'm at it

At the moment we have a mish mash of foam and rubber strips plastered round the edge that have built up over the years before we built in and they do an okay but not great job and look unsightly.

We're unable to get the door off easily, so whatever we get will need to be screwed into (ideally) or stuck onto the door frame and the bottom of the door, but there is so much junk coming up in searches that I really don't know the best way to do this...

The bottom seems to have most options (I'm imagining a vinyl strip that runs along the bottom of the door and fixed on either side but they only seem to come to be fixed along the inside or outside edge), but when it comes to the sides (and top) of the door it seems that I'm basically left with sticky things which in my experience look rubbish and come off / move over time...

Anyone got better/specific suggestions?
Thanks!
 
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A photo or two would help.
One of the whole frame and one a little closer so detail can be seen.
 
A photo or two would help.
One of the whole frame and one a little closer so detail can be seen.

Here you go, attached.
You can see it's got bits of foam/rubber there at the moment which as I say, is okay but not very neat
 

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If you can aim for a maximum 3mm gap up the sides and across the top (like on a fire door - in bad cases on old doors this can involve lipping a door then rehanging it), router in a compressible rubber weather strip (such as Schlegel Aquamac 63) around the sides and top in the corner of the rebate (or use a mechanically fixed equivalent), fit an automatic drop seal at the bottom of the door (either routed in - better - or surface mounted - not as good) which will be far more efficient than a brush strip (they are designed for acoustic and intumescent sealing in many cases) and consider some form of weatherproof threshold on the floor at the bottom if it is uneven. The letter box also need to be a sprung flap outside/sprung flap inside type oreferably with a brush seal on the inside, although having an external (say wall mounted) post box and blocking off the letter box opening so you lose that girt great hole in the door is always going to be a greater improvement. You may also want to consider surface mounted secondary glazing behind those glazed panels as they are large cold spots and lead often leaks heat out. Finally, there is the old Victorian solution of a pivoting curtain pole with heavy, full height curtains added behind the door. AFAIK that's the full Monty :).

I'd say rebate seals (even nailed in ones), dealing with the letterbox opening, double glazing the leaded glass and a surface mounted drop seal would give you a considerable improvement without taking the door off

Any draught solution fixed to the face of the door is never going to perform as well as the inbuilt solutions you'd employ on a new door (which I detailed above), and IMHO will always end up looking scruffy over time (at least many of the ones I've ever seen). BTW, I can't see why the door won't come off readily, either - only two hinges, so 8 screws? (but then I'm a joiner)
 
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My front door is fitted with a brush type seal to overhang the bottom.
It also has a rubber seal fitted to the exterior door frame so the door closes onto a seal.
There's some O shaped self stick seal attached to the inner frame as well.
letter box has a flap (no brushes)

this sort of thing

The best "thermal" advice is put a porch on.
Mine is about 50cm deep but makes a huge difference.
It doesn't protrude, it just encloses the door area
 
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My front door is fitted with a brush type seal to overhang the bottom.
It also has a rubber seal fitted to the exterior door frame so the door closes onto a seal.
There's some O shaped self stick seal attached to the inner frame as well.
letter box has a flap (no brushes)

this sort of thing

The best "thermal" advice is put a porch on.
Mine is about 50cm deep but makes a huge difference.
It doesn't protrude, it just encloses the door area


So what confuses me about these are are that, the vast majority of front doors open inwards (at least in my experience) yet it appears these (from the vid) would need to be fitted outside, which would look a bit ugly... am I missing something?
 
Not really.
Yes they are fitted outside, but neatly.
Over time, my wooden varnished door has faded in the sunlight and when you open it, there's a darker 1/4" band around the edge.
I have an identical one on my internal garage to utility door.
I'm not so worried about looks in a garage. But I don't find a bit of draught proofing unsightly, so long as the mitres are well fitted
 

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