Drift

When I got up this morning, I discovered that the wind had shifted. It was now coming from the southeast, and it was blowing hard. My sliding glass patio door facing that direction does not close properly. The house was built in 1890, so that's not surprising. I found a little drift on the floor. Let me tell you, finding a drift in your living room is never a good thing.

I had a can of that expandable foam stuff, so thought maybe I'd just squirt some of that in the gap. In reading the can, however, it looks like it creates a permanent bond, and I wanted to be able to open the door in the spring.

What to do, what to do...what could I stuff in there, something soft, pliable, that I could stuff in the small crack at the top, but that could expand for the 1/2 inch crack at the bottom....hmm, what could I use. What could a person that has bags and bags of fiber use as weatherstripping?

Yes, I thought of using some of my alpaca roving. The frugal side of me balked at that though. It's alpaca roving!

Then I remembered. I had a bag of off-cuts of felt created from the neck warmer "manufacturing" process. I had kept them, thinking that I might find a use for them someday.

Aha! I grabbed a knitting needle, and poked strips of felt into the gap.

It worked a treat!

Not only did it stop the wind (and snow) from coming in, but it's colorful too!

Spinners joke that all those bags of fiber they have stashed away are used as insulation. Let me tell you, it really works!

ETA: Eek! I just looked at the other side of the door, the stationary side. I found an even bigger drift.

Do you think maybe the time has come for a new patio door?