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There are many options when choosing your exterior doors. However, the best way to weatherproof them is to use flashing to create a drainage plane for draining water away from the home.
Without proper water management, water can enter the walls around the door frame; this can lead to mold, wood rot, termite problems, and higher utility bills. With a few simple steps, you can keep your doors looking great, watertight and resistant to weather damage — thus extending the lives of the doors and the frames.
By using flashing material around the sill, header and doorjambs, you can create a watertight seal. It's a strong defense, which will avoid all the door problems of leaking, warping and molding.
Here's how you do it:
- Cut the house wrap at the header at 45-degree angles to create a flap. Tape the flap temporarily out of the way.
- Once the house wrap is taped back, you can start applying the door flashing. Apply the peel-and-stick flashing to the sill first; then lap the flashing up onto the jambs.
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions to install the door into the rough opening.
- Next, apply the self-stick flashing to the side jambs of the door. The jamb flashing should overlap the edges of the sill and extend down past it by one inch and extend past the head by two inches.
- Install a drip edge extending past 2 inches on each side of the door. Then tuck the drip edge underneath the house wrap flap that you cut earlier. This will allow any water to run off of the door header.
- Install the self-stick flashing at the head of the door overlapping the drip edge and the house wrap. Extend the header flashing piece past the jambs at least one inch.
- After installing the header flashing, fold the house wrap flap back over, taping it down so that the house wrap material overlaps the header flashing.
The conventional weatherproofing method uses caulk around the perimeter of the door. Unfortunately, this leaves the door opening vulnerable to water from wind-driven rain over time. Over time, caulk will weaken and reduce the door's performance. That won't happen with peel-and-stick flashing. By sealing around the door frame with a peel-and-stick flashing, we create an excellent drainage plane, a better seal against water and a door that will weather storm after storm.
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