pantry door insulation

[Marion1984]

Hi everyone,

First post, so please be nice

My partner and I just bought a house. I am relatively new at DIY but we are trying to do quite a few things by ourselves. Painting, tiling, grouting, that kind of jazz.

The kitchen is quite small and has two doors: one takes to the corridor and the other one to a pantry. The pantry is very badly insulated meaning that you can feel the cold coming in when standing in the kitchen. The bottom half of the door leading to the pantry is wood and the upper half is made of single glaze glass pane.

I am going to buy some kind of insulation tape to put around the door frame, but should I put something on the window pane too? I don't need to see through the glass so it doesn't need to be transparent. Would a piece of mdf screwed on the "outside" (pantry) of the door do the trick or do I need to buy something specific (some wall insulation sheet or something)? Ideally I would like the door to maintain its aspect kitchen side, but it can look ugly pantry side.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Marion

 

[Burnerman]

It sounds like there may be draughts entering the pantry from the outside, Marion.....is there an external window or something?
In this situation probably draught excluders fitted to the door itself may suffice - often its useful to keep the pantry chilly if there's a fridge / freezer in there or whatever.
Sticking a sheet of MDF on the back of the door won't help much, if at all. Give us a pic or two of the situation if you can.
John

 

[Marion1984]

Hi John,

Thanks a lot for the reply.

The pantry is basically a corridor built on the side of the house. It has three doors: one leading to the kitchen (as described before), one leading to the drive in front of the house (wooden door like on a shed) and one leading to the garden (wood and glass like the one taking to the kitchen). There is also a toilet. I think that the walls are bricks plus plasterboards. No idea about the ceiling, all I know is that the roof is felt. like on a shed. It is very cold in there but I don't mind as we use it only for storage (rice, pasta, tins, cat food and that kind of jazz, no appliances at the moment) . One day, I will try and install draught excluders on the two doors in the pantry but I thought that I should deal with the kitchen's door first. I can take some pictures tonight, not a problem.

So, a plank of MDF won't make a difference you think? If using wood won't work, should I post my thread somewhere else on the forum?

Thanks a lot!

 

[foxhole]

The front and rear external doors are the ones which require work to prevent the draughts entering the property.

 

[Burnerman]

As above, really.....in particular the outside door (shed type!) needs to be replaced with a 'proper' type door which has a frame which will accept draught exclusion in some form.
Do give us pics if you can - walls, roof and so on, but I do get the feeling that this pantry will really become a porch, and its the main door entry into the house which needs attention.
In my imagination, I'm wondering if this is an ex local authority house, with your pantry originally being a coal house with a store?
John