Home Repair with HGTV's Anthony Gilardi

November 12, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Cafe Sheri - Comments (0)

Anthony Gilardi

Professional handyman Anthony Gilardi, of HGTV's Myles of Style, has been generously answering your home repair questions each week. Here are some answers about choosing weatherstripping and wall anchors for you.

Ask Anthony your home repair questions in the comments below.

Q: Hello, we just moved into a rental house, and it's REALLY drafty. It's getting cold out; is there a cheap way to help keep the air from seeping in around the windows and doors?

—wells75904

A: Wow, you just gave me a flashback—growing up in Boston and living in drafty apartments. I know exactly what you’re going through. I would love to just say move to a warmer climate, but I know that’s not realistic.

Well, good news anyway, I know how and have many times fixed this problem. It’s the old story, with the cost of heating, you’re throwing money out the window. Let’s start with the doors.

It is very easy and relatively inexpensive to weatherproof exterior doors. What you want to do is measure the actual size of the door and then measure the size of the gaps. Take these two measurements to any large hardware store (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.) and find the door and window section. In my experience, I’ve found that the floors around doors are never level or even. So what you want to do is purchase rubber flexible weatherstripping for the bottom of all exterior doors. They will come with any screws or nails you need and very simple directions.

The sides are a little different. You want to add weatherstripping to the sides of the door jamb and not directly to the door itself. Again use rubber flexible and get it as THIN as possible. Most of the time people get carried away thinking they need thick weatherstripping for the side of doors and find after they install them they can’t close the door. Don’t let this happen to you. The bottom of the door is where 90% of the draft is anyway. Fill that gap and you’ll see a huge difference, even if you don’t touch the sides at all.

Onto the windows... The best suggestion I can make for weatherproofing windows is window film. I’ve used this product every year when I lived back east, and I swear by it. It’s very simple and inexpensive as well. I did some research and found a website that covers energy efficient window film for you that has everything you need to know about this product.

I know this will work. Check it out, and let me know how it goes. Keep it simple.

—Anthony

Q: I wanted to know about wall anchors and anchors in general. I bought a shelf unit from IKEA that has all kinds of different combinations. Once I put it up and loaded it up with all kinds of stuff, it pulled out of the wall. This particular unit has options of having a hanging bar for clothes, and my apartment does not have any closets. So, what do you think would be the BEST wall anchors to use with something like this? Also, what kinds of anchors should I use with less heavy types of wall hangings or wall organizers?

Thank you,

—Melissa, mdheart30

A: Ahhh, wall anchors, do I have a story for you!! Amazingly enough, I was just discussing wall anchors this week in a soon to be released episode of Myles of Style. Looks like today is your lucky day!

In my research to find to perfect wall anchor, I’ve found a new product and put it to the test! It passed in every way I could think of: strength, cost, easy to use. I would be proud to fill you in. Melissa. Keep in mind, there are different sizes for different workloads. When choosing what size wall anchor you need, check out the weight capacity of your shelf or wall unit or estimate the weight of what you’ll be putting on the shelves.

I’ve found a website for you that has all the toggler anchor info you need. Check it out.
Thanks for writing in.

—Anthony

FILED UNDER: ask anthony