Chewproof Weatherstripping
Keep rodents from chewing garage-door weatherstripping with this cladding.
I live in the country, where it’s a constant battle to keep wildlife from finding its way indoors. I have a few garages and other outbuildings, and last fall I noticed that rodents had chewed through the flexible weatherstripping attached to the doorstop molding on a couple of overhead garage doors.
To keep future critters at bay, I created metal cladding for the lower 4 in. of the weatherstripping on all my overhead garage doors. I simply cut 2-in. by 4-in. pieces of tin from a leftover metal duct. I don’t have a metal brake, so I bent them to 90° in a vise, folded them more by hand, and then crimped them tight using the vise. I gently spread each of the pieces, slid them onto the vinyl weatherstripping, and painted them white to match.
All of the makeshift cladding has stayed put so far. If any of it does become loose, I will add a dab of adhesive to hold it in place. It’s important to round or slightly taper the top outside corner so that the descending garage door won’t catch this shielding. So far, this simple fix has gotten me through one full winter with no sign of rodents.
—Joe Kaye, Phenix, Va.
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller.
From Fine Homebuilding #318
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