Gaps Around Door Need Filling

[Mr. Tickle]

Hello Board,

I have a front door with glass windows in it. We've noticed a massive draft coming 'through' it and upon closer inspection, it appears to be coming from a crack/gap all around the frame. It's between the frame and wall, rather than the door and frame.

There is a gap that runs round the door frame that has been caulked by the previous owner. Unfortunatly, this is coming away now and i've poked my screwdriver into the hole - it's about 40 - 50mm deep.

There are bits of plaster coming off too and the hole is getting bigger.

I was wondering what I can use to fill this gap? It appears to lead straight to the outside. I can't see any light but there is a LOT of cold air rushing through the gap everyday.

Can i use Expanding Foam? If i run a small bead into the hole, it should fill it and then i could cut off the excess, sand it down and then run a bead of caulk or some filler over the top to finish it off nicely.

Is that an OK thing to do, or is there a more suitable product?

On the right hand side of the door, there is what appear to be a plasterboard box section, about 6" by 6" on the side of the frame. It looks a lot like the lintel that is covered at the top, only this runs down the side. It sounds hollow, to a point, when i tap it and it is here that the biggest gap is.

I did wonder if it was for some pipe of some sort, but i can't think of any service that runs down that way. Any idea why this box section is here? It's a new house, 7years old, end of terrace.

Thanks for any help!

Mr. Tickle.

 

[JohnD]

I think you're going to have to look inside that plasterboard box to see what's inside it.

I'd suggest raking out the old filler and using foam (I've just been writing about it in //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=242667#242667

If it's a nice front door, use the cling film to avoid getting any foam on it, or on the step. The foam will bulge and drip out in big gobbetts, can be cut off square when hard and then either painted or topped with a flexible filler (which you can then also paint).

In a similar position, I screwed a hardwood strip over the gap, and drilled a few holes in it for the filler nozzle. By wrapping it in clingfilm first, so it wouldn't be stuck in place, I was able to fit it before injection to stop the foam bulging out except through the holes, and force it to expand deeper into the gap, but this will be quite tricky if you haven't used foam before. Maybe buy a couple of cans and use the first one for practice. On my window surrounds I put tape over the entire gap, and made small holes in it for the filler tube, then pressed more tape over them, this reduced the amount of bulge-out and dropping foam (it is very sticky). I find you need a filling hole every foot or so (you want to see the foam from hole 1 expanding into hole 2 do you know it's filled the gap). You can push the nozzle deep into the gap and angle it to start filling from the gap furthest from the hole, and let it expand outwards.

BTW I've used Polycell and B&Q own brand. the B&Q seemed to form big bubbles (voids) whereas the Poly seemed to form a more regular tight mass.