Door gap

[connorhawke]

Backstory: There are some gaps around my apartment doors I'd like to fill, most notably a diagonal gap at the top of the main door, as shown in the photo. I own the apartment, not just rent. Replacing/restructuring the door/frame entirely for a perfect fit would be the ideal solution but meanwhile I want a quick fix to cover the gap, primarily to prevent the smell of secondhand smoke from smoking tenants entering my apartment, which occurs regularly as they smoke at the front door of the building close to my apartment. Any sort of padding I place in this gap such as weatherstrips fall out with continued use of the door. I wanted to screw on an upside-down door sweep but the metal door is not very accepting of my cobalt drill bits, as you may be able to see in the photo.

TLDR: How would you fill/cover this gap? Weatherstrips fall out and door is unfriendly to drilling.

 

[Doghouse Riley]

Hi and welcome.

It looks as if the door is hard up against the frame on the left-hand side, so there's no chance of re-positioning the bottom hinge.
I can't tell from the photo whether the door or the frame is out of true, it's likely the frame.

But if the frame is wood could make a wedge shaped fillet out of timber and screw it to the underside of the frame, or if it's steel, glue it. But you'd need to get hold of a plane.

But that won't completely cure it as if the air pressure is lower in your flat or you've a window open, air will come on from the hall.
You could also add some stick on draft excluder around the frame where the door closes on it.

 

[connorhawke]

Managed to drill it after applying 3-in-1 oil. Metal layer was thin, no more than 1cm. Screwed on an upside-down sweep over the top gap and self-stick sweeps over gaps on the side and bottom of the door. So that's my current DIY project done.

I guess for my next project relating to sealing my apartment I'll eventually get to properly covering/filling the gap at the top of the front window which doesn't close all the way, at least until the closing issue is fixed - although I'd have to move the coaxial cable to another window to allow this window to close fully as the cable comes down from the building roof entering my apartment through this window. Right now I'm simply using an inordinate amount of duct tape over the window gap which nonetheless provides some degree of insulation and which is easily taped snugly around the coaxial cable. Nonetheless any tips on proper fixes for this are also welcome.

In the meantime, thanks for the suggestion. Really appreciated.

 

[DIYmeister]

View attachment 2925
Backstory: There are some gaps around my apartment doors I'd like to fill, most notably a diagonal gap at the top of the main door, as shown in the photo. I own the apartment, not just rent. Replacing/restructuring the door/frame entirely for a perfect fit would be the ideal solution but meanwhile I want a quick fix to cover the gap, primarily to prevent the smell of secondhand smoke from smoking tenants entering my apartment, which occurs regularly as they smoke at the front door of the building close to my apartment. Any sort of padding I place in this gap such as weatherstrips fall out with continued use of the door. I wanted to screw on an upside-down door sweep but the metal door is not very accepting of my cobalt drill bits, as you may be able to see in the photo.

TLDR: How would you fill/cover this gap? Weatherstrips fall out and door is unfriendly to drilling.

Hi - Try fixing the door sag first by replacing the hinge screws with longer ones that will anchor into solid framing. The door sag and gap will be reduced, but if still needed, glue weatherstrip to the opposite underside of the door jamb to meet the door when closed.