I've tried plain old foam neoprene strips (actually, it's not neoprene. It's epdm rubber. Which is what all foam type neoprene is really. You can't make pure neoprene lower than 40 durometer, which is WAY too stiff to compress with human force) in various thicknesses around 1/8". It works fine in terms of air tightness but has other practical problems.
First, even though it feels soft and easily squishable in the half inch or so of space between your fingers, when that pressure is multiplied over the area of a door's perimeter(80''+36"+80"+36"=232" vs 1/2") it takes about 464 times as much force to actually close the door! Luckily, the leverage of the door allows the neoprene on the hinge side to compress easily, but the last few degrees have required me to rig up a custom screw type assembly to close the door enough to match the knob thingy with the strike plate.
Another problem is that if your doors aren't perfectly straight(mine are VERY old and not straight) the neoprene has to be thick enough to take up the valleys and have enough on top of that to provide some compression in those low spots. This means that it's extra thick in the high spots, making it even harder to close.
I've just been dealing with it until now that I've found a better design. I've cut a cross section and scanned it in. It's magnified several times here. The shape of the hollow center is much more easily compressed than the neoprene itself, while the extra thickness of this easily compressed section takes up any slack in the uneveness of the door. I plan on placing my stops so that on average, the door compresses the hollow section just to the point of contact with the bottom section, but doesn't have to compress the neoprene itself.
These strips are 3/8" wide and about 3/16" tall. When compressed to the point just described they're a little less than 1/8" tall. It has peel off self-adhesive on the back, which seem to be the same stuff I have on my flat strips now and that's held for a year with no signs of failure.
It's $1.72 a foot which seems reasonable enough except that I have to buy a shiite load to get that price. Anybody wanna go in with me?
BTW, I can also get 40 and 60 durometer neoprene if anyone is looking for that. I can't remember the price exactly but do remember it was way cheaper than I've found it for on the net. He gave me all I needed free just get me outta there!
I've also found a local place that has 703 FRK for something like $.95/square foot. I'd be happy to help anyone with any of this if you go in with me on the epdm strips.
First, even though it feels soft and easily squishable in the half inch or so of space between your fingers, when that pressure is multiplied over the area of a door's perimeter(80''+36"+80"+36"=232" vs 1/2") it takes about 464 times as much force to actually close the door! Luckily, the leverage of the door allows the neoprene on the hinge side to compress easily, but the last few degrees have required me to rig up a custom screw type assembly to close the door enough to match the knob thingy with the strike plate.
Another problem is that if your doors aren't perfectly straight(mine are VERY old and not straight) the neoprene has to be thick enough to take up the valleys and have enough on top of that to provide some compression in those low spots. This means that it's extra thick in the high spots, making it even harder to close.
I've just been dealing with it until now that I've found a better design. I've cut a cross section and scanned it in. It's magnified several times here. The shape of the hollow center is much more easily compressed than the neoprene itself, while the extra thickness of this easily compressed section takes up any slack in the uneveness of the door. I plan on placing my stops so that on average, the door compresses the hollow section just to the point of contact with the bottom section, but doesn't have to compress the neoprene itself.
These strips are 3/8" wide and about 3/16" tall. When compressed to the point just described they're a little less than 1/8" tall. It has peel off self-adhesive on the back, which seem to be the same stuff I have on my flat strips now and that's held for a year with no signs of failure.
It's $1.72 a foot which seems reasonable enough except that I have to buy a shiite load to get that price. Anybody wanna go in with me?
BTW, I can also get 40 and 60 durometer neoprene if anyone is looking for that. I can't remember the price exactly but do remember it was way cheaper than I've found it for on the net. He gave me all I needed free just get me outta there!
I've also found a local place that has 703 FRK for something like $.95/square foot. I'd be happy to help anyone with any of this if you go in with me on the epdm strips.
I would think, though, that this stuff would not be very cost effecient to send.