A front door has the hardest job in the house. It faces the weather, it is opened every day and it often has the biggest gap. There is no single best draught excluder for every front door, but there is a best match for each way of living.
Start with how the door is used
Opened many times a day. A fixed seal is best, because a loose snake gets dragged out of place. A brush strip screwed to the door handles an uneven floor, and a silicone sweep is neat on a smooth one.
Opened occasionally, shut all evening. A heavy fabric excluder is simple, flexible and works on any floor. A weighted dog or cushion is a popular choice and doubles as hallway decor.
Wide or double front door. Choose a long excluder, such as a 107cm product, or two strips overlapping in the middle.
Match it to the gap
A small gap of a few millimetres suits a slim silicone sweep. A gap of 1 to 2.5cm suits a brush strip. A gap bigger than that needs a deep cushion excluder or a threshold fitted to the floor. Measure first using our guide to measuring a door gap.
Think about the floor
On a tiled or laminate hallway, almost any seal works. On a thick carpet, a thin-skirt sweep or a brush glides over the surface, whereas a stiff blade would drag. On a raised threshold, check that the seal clears it.
Do not forget the other leaks
The gap under the door is the most obvious leak but not the only one. Check the sides and the top of the frame, and fit draught tape if you can feel moving air. Check the keyhole and the letterbox, which on an older door can let in as much cold as the gap at the bottom.
Rented or listed
In a rented home, adhesive seals and loose excluders are the safest choices because they do not mark the door. In a listed building, ask before fixing anything to the door.
Our short answer
For most families, a fixed brush or sweep on the bottom of the door, a brush cover on the letterbox and a snake for the evenings gives the most comfortable hallway. It is a small set of products and a half-hour job.