Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

I'm trying to figure out the best way to completely block off a doorway inside my house. There's no door or hinges on this doorway. I'm thinking that, in a time of emergency (or if natural gas needed to be conserved), if I could block off that doorway, it would be much cheaper to heat the portion of our home that we spend 90% of our time in, vs. the other, less-used rooms (one of which has a very high ceiling, and is expensive to heat).

I've done google searches for relevant keywords, but so far I haven't found any device or material that seems like it would be a convenient, portable, & effective way to block off a doorway. Any suggestions? Maybe a large, custom-cut chunk of foam (maybe covered with insulation material)? Thanks in advance for your input.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Go to Home Depot (or building supply) and get a sheet of insulating foam board...3/4" x 4' X 8'. You can cut it with a razor knife to fit the doorway and tack it up.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...3+90040+527397

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

I was going to suggest what Atahualpa said but now I have to come up with something more creative and I'm thinking SEVERAL cans of Great-Stuff. :)
Actually, once you've cut your foam board to size use some foam backer rod to hold it in place and prevent drafts around the edges. Also, consider hanging some plastic sheeting (4-6 mil) on both sides of your barrier to create additional dead space. Tape that to the walls and floors using painter's tape (blue).

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

This may sound absurd, but if you have an air mattress, you could inflate it in the doorway. It seals all around and it's reusable.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Well hell...if we are going to get creative. Get 2 sheets of foam board and a roll of 6" fiberglass insulation. Go inside the room and fit the foam board on the inside doorway...now, climb out the window and come back in. Cut the fiberglass to fit and tape it up or however you can get it to stay....fit the other foam board into place.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

You can also go to Jo Annes Fabric store (or any that sell it) and get black out material. It is white or off white and has a vinyl liner on it. It is used to line curtains. It is thick and wont let the air go thru. You can also buy velcro with self adhesive on it and stick it to the curtain and wall. You will still be able to use this as a door way without a lot of hassle. Possibly hang a shower curtain rod on top of the door way, and cut a piece of black out fabric to hide the gap on top. Jo Annes had a sale a few weeks ago for 50% off one item. I got enough to do all my windows and a few doors.. The average price is 6.00 per yard. You can find it in the upholstery section of the store. Or you can do as they did in the old days and hang a quilt in the doorway!

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Great idea, then get one of these "Curtain-Wall Zip Up" so you still have access.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

I recently lived in a 3br/2ba house which had 3 climate zones. The master bedroom with attached bath had its own programmable thermostat, another in one of the 2 other bedrooms controlling them as a pair, and a third for all the common space in the house, including the living area with vaulted ceiling. Gas furnace with baseboard heaters in the rooms. This makes so much damn sense, definitely a feature worth having. Closing the bedroom doors you can just spot-heat the house.

Where I'm at now has gas furnace, one thermostat in a central place, with forced air registers in the rooms & living area. Best we could do to segment it is, close the door and the register in any unused room, but that's it, no option to not heat the living area where the thermostat is mounted. Any time you close a register, it'll force the heated air to blow harder through the remaining open ones, heating those spaces faster and shutting off the heat again when the only place that matters: the wall thermostat, reaches the target temp. I hate the notion of having to heat the whole house, all so that the air which touches your skin is comfortable. Some kind of "electric blanket which you wear" would make so much more sense, no?

There is a place which we could "wall off" as the OP proposes, which would cut off the common area which is over half the square-footage, then close all the common area heat registers before bedtime, where the house's one thermostat is in the heated area. Wouldn't be pretty, but I could see some sort of thick floor-to-ceiling drape mounted on a track across the ceiling, or maybe those thick clear plastic drapes cut into strips you see in industrial/walk-in refrigerators, or something similar.. but again, so unsightly, and still the work of opening/closing heat registers depending on where you're spending your time.

I don't know how the economics shake out re using electric space heaters with built-in thermostats to spot-heat bedrooms only at night, and leaving off the house heat. Too many variables re the physical characteristics of the home/rooms, and the price of electricity. General word I've always heard was, electric heat=expensive.

If it doesn't already exist, one business idea would be a wall mounted thermostat, which also has a wireless satellite thermostat unit or two, which could override the central wall mounted one, and be portable from room to room, making the temperature in *that room* be what determines when the furnace goes on and off. Use that satellite unit in combination with closing the heat registers in all the other rooms if they're unoccupied, meaning in the case of forced air heating, it'll blow really hard through the only open register(s), heat that room quickly and shut off quickly, effectively imitating climate zones, but in older places without the climate zone feature built in. Another optional convenience feature could be wireless, power registers which open & close on schedule (or with manual override anytime) based upon one of any number of pre-set programs, where the registers basically do as they're told wirelessly (probably battery powered open/close motor & "brain" listening for instructions). Would a "system" like this, improving the efficiency of the heating system in older places, more/less do-it-yourself without a structural overhaul, have a market?

Maybe not so much with this cheap-azz nat gas,

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Blocking air flow might help, but there isn't much point in trying to insulate it. The interior walls have no insulation, so there would still be some heat loss. To block air flow you might as well use whatever is most convenient; plastic sheet, garbage bags, cardboard, etc. If you decide to use styrofoam, get it from your building supplier. It's available in 1/2" or 1" thickness and has plastic film on both sides to reduce the crumbling. For small temperature differences 1/2" is enough, but if it's more than 30 degrees or so you need 1". Use white glue to stick pieces together if you need to. You can glue edge to edge if you put packing tape over the seams.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Try a curtain rod and curtain oooorrrr shower rod and shower curtain, the shower rod is really easy just unscrew till it wedges against the walls and there you have it, then just use a shower curtain. Or you could get some of them cool door way bead hangy things.

You can also buy accordion doors , simple to mount and most times they utilize a simple magnetic closure .

And lastly, like gasilat said ,doors are simple to hang especially pre-hung doors

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Thanks for everyone's input and creative solutions!! A lot of food for thought.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

>> Would it be feasible to install a door in that location or would you prefer not to do that for aesthetics ?

For my situation, that's not really an option, due to tight space (nowhere for the door in its open position to go), but it is a good suggestion.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

hang a blanket.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

That's what we do.

Roll of Bubblewrap + Duck Tape if you want 'uptown', somewhat see-thru, and good insulator.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

This plan may be too simple for some but how about Install a door with hinges and a knob / latch.

Question: How secure would you want this doorway to be ?

Are there access points on the other side of the door IE Windows ?

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

>> Question: How secure would you want this doorway to be ?
Speaking personally, it wouldn't have to be "secure"; it's just an empty doorway separating our front hallway and family room. Just needs to be secure in the sense that no air could pass through!


>> Are there access points on the other side of the door IE Windows ?
There would be 2 other ways to get around the blocked door (through other parts of the house), so safety isn't a concern for me. Am I understanding the gist of your question? Yes, there are windows beyond the doorway -- it's the front half of the house & upstairs that I'm trying to block off.

One issue, maybe trivial, is how to fasten whatever material I end up using, without damaging the wooden doorframe or the cream-colored wall. Any advice about adhesive materials that might do a good job, yet not leave messy or damaging residue? I would say that nails or other permanently-damaging solutions aren't an option (unless it was a real emergency and there was no other option).

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Blue painter's tape will be rated on the packaging for the number of days it can be left on without leaving residue. IME you can get by with a lot longer but if you are real skeptical change it out on the rated schedule.

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

Every house I have designed and built (over 100) has insulation and sound attenuation blankets on all interior walls...

Re: Ways to block doorways to conserve heat?
 

You can buy heavy vinyl curtain liners that are designed to block cold. We have a sliding glass door sized doorway to an uninsulated sun room in our living room. The sun room is miserably cold, but you wouldn't know it from the other side of the curtain liners. We have curtains hung in from of the liners.

We have another doorway that's about the same size not far from the basement door. It's not a practical spot for hanging curtains, as it would block too much sunlight into the kitchen, but when it's really cold, we hand a big blanket across it, and it works quite well (we stuck some small nails in the molding of the doorway, and we just stick the blanket on the nails...the nails stay up all the time, but being small, they're not obvious).

When I lived in New Hampshire, we'd block windows and doorways in the coldest days of winter with sheets of styrofoam with fabric coverings (so as not to look like sheets of styrofoam).