How to weatherproof front door and prevent water ingress?

[alexxx]

Hi all, we moved into our house in August 2024 and during periods of heavy rain + wind, water comes into the house from underneath the front exterior door. I have since installed a Raven RP3 Door seal from Bunnings and it does a decent job of keeping water out for light to medium rain, but water still gets in during heavy rain + wind events.

Besides the Raven door seal I installed, our front door has no threshold and no graded slope that facilitates water runoff away from the door. There's also no awning or canopy directly above the door.

Does anyone have any DIY recommendations to prevent water ingress?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Raven RP3 Door Seal installed

[AlanM52]

Hi @alexxx,

You could try this.

But the existing gap needs to be 25mm (quite a bit).

Likely the door will need to be removed and the bottom cut/planed which is a tricky job because the corner 'opposite grain' may splinter. Can be mitigated by chamfering the corners.

All of that is quite a commitment because if it doesn't work out the door will need a filler strip installed.

For the people I have helped some found it acceptable to use a garage door seal.

And painted to blend with the surroundings.

Cheers

[JacobZ]

Hi @alexxx,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is wonderful to have you with us.

Typically, an exterior door should have a sill, which is usually a profiled piece of timber, that has a stop that will prevent water from seeping under the door, and a sloped piece that encourages any water that does get in, to run back outside. The most permanent solution to your problem would be to have the flooring removed and a sill installed, but obviously, this would require a fair bit of work and a reasonable cost.

Awnings are a reasonably simple way to add some more protection to limit the amount of water that gets to the door. What have you got over the top of the door? There are premade awnings that might be an option, or we could potentially look at how one could be built. We'd have to see what you are working with though.

Other than this, you could maybe attach a Self-Adhesive Weather Seal to the ground where the door closes. It isn't an ideal solution, but it would add another layer of protection behind the existing door seal that could help with your issue.

Let me tag @Noyade, @Dave-1 and @Nailbag to see what they think.

Jacob

[Dave-1]

Good Evening @alexxx 

Rain and door sills are a pet pain of mine Currently I have my carpenter mate going to reinstall two for my libary downstairs (I dont  have the neccasarytooling to shape the sill) The first version he made wasnt slopped quite right so we have decided a steeper slope. So the option I am putting forward is to install a "sill" across your threshhold, silsastic it down so water will not travel through. You will also need to shorten the height of your door to cover the added height of the door sill. The weather strip you have can then be reinstalled afterwards.

I remember the first time I had to work on a door, was extremley nervous so ended up getting a carpenter to install it and asked if I could watch Worth it as I looked at it like a lesson and it gave me an understanding why we have trades. So I would factor that in with a new door sill.

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @alexxx 

The issue which @JacobZ identified is there is no step in the door sill. It’s simply the same level all the way through. So unless you create a sill lip, then water will always be able to penetrate. 

Assuming the outside and inside floor level is the same, the best solution would be to shorten the door at the bottom by around 7mm and replace this with a 7mm rise directly under the door at the same depth. This would replicate a sill. Then your Raven would need to be lowered accordingly to operate correctly at the new height. 

Nailbag

[alexxx]

Hi @AlanM52, thanks so much for your reply. We have quite a small gap (3-7mm) so keen to explore the garage door seal option. Do you have any recommendations / links you can provide?

[alexxx]

Hi @JacobZ, thanks so much for your reply. Yeah it sounds like the most permanent solution(s) would require the most work. Would be keen to explore cheaper alternatives first including the Self-Adhesive Weather Seal you recommended or the garage door seal that @AlanM52 recommended. Let's see how they go!

Regarding what we have above the door, there is a roof canopy/overhang roughly 2-2.5m above the door. Needless to say, it's not doing a whole lot to protect against rain that falls at a sharp angle which is rather common over the summer period in Sydney.

[alexxx]

Hi @Dave-1, thanks for your reply and appreciate the insights. Certainly agree that there's so much to learn from professionals! I will give the cheaper and easier options a go first and see if it sufficiently mitigates the water ingress problem. If not, I might be in touch!

[alexxx]

Hi @Nailbag, thanks for your reply. Yes that's the perfect description that it's just the same level all the way through - not something we recognised to be an issue as first-home buyers. Appreciate the insights and certainly will look to doing additional work to the door if the cheaper seal alternatives recommended above don't work out.

[AlanM52]

Hi @alexxx,

I got the Garage Door Threshold Seal from Clark Rubber.

That was many years ago and these days there are more choices available online like this one.

Universal Garage Door Bottom Threshold Seal Strip

I used building adhesive but in your case use something like silicon, check with the workshop guys.

Cheers