Thursday 10 December 2015

Winterize Your House, Restore Your Car With Rubber Weather Stripping

By Marci Nielsen


These days, consumers are keeping cars rather than turning them in every three years. The same thing goes for houses. It used to be that you could buy a house and sell it quickly if your family got bigger, you changed jobs, or you simply wanted a change. Now, however, it's harder to sell a house, cars cost more every year, and people have less confidence in job security. Enter rubber weather stripping, whether for automobile or home, as a chore you might face when taking care of what you have.

Especially in cold winter areas like Middletown, NY, keeping air, rain, or snow out of sealed spaces is important. In a home, leaky windows and doors are major energy drains. Drafts can make life miserable on windy days when you're trying to relax.

As for your car, you may never pay attention to the weatherstripping around the front and rear windshields or the side windows until it starts giving you trouble. If there's a whistling noise as you drive down the road, if the interior gets wet (or the stuff inside the trunk) when you go through the car wash, or if the sunroof lets rain drip on your head, you have a problem.

Most people can rely on the weatherstripping put on at the factory. However, those who have to leave their cars outside in all weathers, who drive one vehicle long after the shine has worn off, or who are restoring a classic too good to discard may find that the original protection is cracked, pulled away from the frame, or even missing altogether in spots. Cleaning chemicals can damage it, as can a new paint job. Replacing it is a chore that might not have been on your radar screen, but if you go online you'll see a lot of automobile weather-proofing products. Obviously there's a demand for seals and installation tools like adhesive-off and adhesive-on.

House weatherstripping is made to install easily and remove when the seasons change. Rubber foam strips come with adhesive on one side so you can simply press them in place around doors or window-mounted air conditioners. The strips come in various widths and thicknesses. The strips peels off if you want to remove them for summer, although they work equally well to keep hot air out and cool air in.

Replacement weather stripping for autos is sold like any other car part. You order a specific strip for the make, model, and year of your car. Ordering this way should give you an exact match, but you need to compare the new strips carefully with the old before removing the old strips, just to be sure.

When the product description says "rubber', it doesn't mean the carbon-based stuff that comes from South American trees. The newer alternative is silicone, A similar material but one with a mineral base. It can stand up to high temperatures, is more resistant to chemicals, and degrades more slowly.

Like any other scary do-it-yourself chore, you'll find a lot of how-to sites and videos on replacing weatherstripping. You have to be careful, but it really isn't all that hard to restore your automobile weatherproofing or to seal your home tightly against the elements. Check out the different kinds of seals (like channel or bulb) and find the perfect one for the job you have.




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