Ways to Stop Pet Door Drafts in Winter Months

According to Green America, drafty windows and doors can increase your heating bill during the winter months by around 20 percent. You don’t need to be a mathematician to know how that could take big bucks out of your pocket every month. However, there’s another type of door that can contribute to heat loss: your pet door. Yes, a dog door for your furry friend may end up costing you a small fortune if it lets hot and cold air into your home. Most pet doors are just plastic flaps that work about as well as a poncho at keeping the cold out and the heat in, which leads to serious dog flap drafts in winter. Wondering how to stop drafts around doors with a pet door installed? Keep reading to learn all about door and window drafts to select the best winter dog door to insulate your home and save money.

What You Can Do to Stop the Drafts

When you go to assess your windows and doors for drafts, don’t forget about the pet door. Here are some ways to stop pet flap door drafts in the cold winter months:

Size up your surroundings. Depending on your home’s layout, stopping pet door drafts may not even require reinstalling your pet door. For instance, many older homes are designed so that the back door is positioned between the dining room and kitchen, and can be closed off from the two rooms by doors. If you intend to use your pet door during the winter months and have a similarly designed home, just make sure that the appropriate doors are shut when the pet door is in use, so the drafts stay confined around the back door area. You’ll still likely notice a slight increase in your heating bill during the winter, but it won’t be an alarming increase.

Seal off the pet door. While this might not be convenient for your dog, temporarily sealing the pet door will reduce the pet door drafts in winter. Again, you’ll have to let Rover outside to do his business yourself if your pet door is disabled, but the minor inconvenience may be more desirable than the spike in your energy bill. You can also put the doggie door cover over the door any time your dog doesn’t need it or is out with you for the day.

Buy a more efficient dog door. Sometimes the answer to how to winterize dog door installations is to start over. Endura Flap carries the best cold weather dog doors to seal off your home from harsh winter winds! Just as dual-pane windows are much more energy efficient than single-pane windows, the same concept applies to pet doors. This sturdy, energy efficient dog door has a 15 year warranty, so you don’t have to worry about spending a small fortune on replacement dog door flaps. The flap is lined with fuzzy weatherstripping and built with sturdy polyolefin polymer for maximum energy efficiency. You also have the option of dual flaps, which will insulate even better!

For sliding glass doors Endura Flap carries a dual-pane extreme weather dog door insert, known as the “Thermo Panel 3e”. This insulated sliding door dog door is more expensive than a conventional pet door, but as with dual-pane windows, the up-front investment pays for itself in energy savings over time. For an insulated window dog door, we recommend the Endura Flap Thermo Sash for Sash Windows.

In short, following these suggestions for an insulated cat door or dog door could decrease your loss of heat in winter months, and help keep your energy bill expenses in check, in turn saving you money.