How to Prevent Damage to Door Weather Stripping

Dogs and cats are pretty smart animals, and some have figured out that if they scratch on a door long enough, someone will come and open it for them. While this may appear cute, the damage the scratching can cause to the rubber weather stripping isn’t.

To repair damaged weather stripping and prevent future damage:

    1. Purchase new weather stripping to fit your door, along with a piece of vinyl lattice that matches the color of the door frame.
    1. Remove the damaged weather stripping from the groove in the door jamb.
    1. Insert the new weather stripping in the groove, and check to be sure the door closes properly.
    1. Cut the vinyl lattice to the length of the door jamb.
    1. Position the vinyl lattice over the weather stripping, making sure the door still closes properly.
    1. Tack the vinyl lattice in place with finishing nails.
    1. Set the nailheads just below the surface of the lattice.
  1. Apply a dap of caulking to each nailhead hole.

Now your pet can scratch on the lattice without damaging the rubber weather stripping. Watch this video to find out more.

14 COMMENTS

  1. I want to thank you, You saved my cat and many arguments, we just bought new doors and my cat always jumped on our old door which was metal, no damage and it had a window, well the new door has a half moon window at the top of door, she dug the heck out of the seal where you can look outside to let us know she wanted in {it looks worse than the one on your video} my cats head was on the chopping block so I got un line to see what products they had for this problem with no luck then i came across your video a million thanks to you GOD BLESS

  2. I really appreciate you posting this! I have two dogs that scratch to come in, and the house is getting a bit drafty! Do you have any suggestions on doing something similar to this for the center of french doors?

  3. Hi, someone in the comments section asked about how to do this project ( how to prevent pet damage on weather stripping) with
    French doors. I am interested in this as well

  4. Thank you for the tip. Our cats have scratched the weatherstripping on our door when they want in. It was so bad you can feel the draft. I can’t wait until we do this to the door. This seems like the solution to our problem.

  6. Thank you! I’m going out to buy this today! The dogs have ruined the door but I’m moving in a year or two so don’t want to buy another door then it get messed up too. this is a great fix to keep the door a while longer.

  8. Nice solution! I will try it, in my house the cat has been destroying the weather stripping on every door, and it eventually damages so much that we can see through it, which means more bugs inside and also the loss of heat/cool air inside. Thank you for this video!

  9. Thank you for posting this! My cat destroyed the weather stripping to the door from the garage to the house – and now he is working on destroying the front door.

    • As cats, unfortunately, will often do… but glad to hear this tip helped, Franca! Please share it and we’ll provide more like it. 🙂

  10. Im trying to clearing see the vinyl lattice to cover my weather stripping. Im not finding anything at Home Depot or Lowes that looks like what is shown in the video. Can someone guide me to that particular type?

    Thank you

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