Replacing worn weatherstripping and door sweeps before winter is one of the cheapest ways Chicago landlords cut heating bills and stop drafts. Here's how to do it right.
Chicago's heating season is long and expensive, and the work of sealing a building is far easier to schedule in the mild days of late August and September than during a January cold snap. Weatherstripping and door sweeps are among the least glamorous line items in a maintenance budget, but they deliver an outsized return. For landlords in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and Rogers Park who pay the heat on older buildings, the payback often lands within a single season.
Warm air escaping around doors and windows is invisible, so it rarely gets attention until a tenant calls about a cold unit or a spiking gas bill. In Chicago's vintage two-flats and greystones, the gaps add up fast. A single quarter-inch gap around an entry door is roughly the equivalent of leaving a fist-sized hole open in the wall. Multiply that across every exterior door in a Logan Square or Andersonville building and you have a heating system fighting a losing battle all winter.
Before buying materials, inspect on a windy day so you can actually feel where air moves. Check the usual Chicago trouble spots: rear entry doors off wooden back porches, basement and garden-apartment doors near grade, vestibule doors in mid-rise buildings, and the old double-hung windows common in Ravenswood and Wicker Park units. Note which weatherstripping is cracked, flattened, or painted over, and which door sweeps are torn or missing.
Contact Lena Services INC at 773-939-4284 or [email protected]