I’ve seen it in cafes: a heavy velvet curtain by the door to keep out drafts from the door as it opens to let new customers in. We have an old house, and in the winter a lot of cold comes through (and around) the door.
Applying draft strip seems difficult: the door already jams in places.
Replacing the door could be an option, but I have seen that new front doors (that aren’t cheap cardboard) are over a 1000 bucks.
So, could it be an option to hang an heavy curtain in the (narrow, size of the door) hallway? Or is such a curtain a PITA, always hanging in the way? Is it sensible to line the curtain with (faux) leather, to keep it from getting dirty? How to best hang the rod? I’m thinking an U-shape, so the curtain hangs alongside the wall instead of perpendicular to it?
We have a heavy lined drape hanging between a “sunroom” and the other parts of the house. A night the sunroom temperature gets to about 54°F when the other parts of the house are about 62°F. In the daytime when the sunroom temperatures get to about 70°F the drape is drawn to the side and hanged open on two hooks made for that purpose.
BTW, we got the drape from an odd lot sale at BBB at about $30 for a $100 product.
Use a straight rod and thread your curtain on it with drapery ring clips. I have silk duponi(?) curtain panels in place of closet doors, and a patterned(tiki like) cotton panel to hide a small utility room. I am considering another heavier panel in a doorway that separates the mudroom from the house. A velvet panel would be a good insulator I bet.
I have an old 1916 house with a tiny mudroom that doubles as a hallway to the upstairs. I use an old sheet stapled up to the doorway to keep the cold at bay. It’s ugly but it works. Back during our cold snap when it was frequently 25º outside the hallway stayed at around 42, the kitchen it connected to was 55 and the living room and office were actually heated.
I did hang an curtain last week. It looks nice, white with dark faux leather trimming on the edges to keep it from soiling from the floor or from being handled, and also to give it some more weight.
And it is surprisingly effective. During our recent cold spel, I measured the temperature difference on both sides of the curtain; no less then 7 degrees Celsius difference! (That’s 44 degrees Fahrenheit) Now, when I open the door for deliveries or for a quick dash out, very little heat is lost.
I made the railing in an U shape, so the curtain would fall tight against the wall. An added benefit is that an u shape railing allows me to fasten the railing against the solid wall and not against the weak (hollow) ceiling. Also, it allows me to hang the curtain more out of the way when it is open.
I tried several pieces of fabric, mainly because I wanted to have as much as possible light penetrate through the curtain while it would stop drafts. Weirdly enough, a combination of white thin fabric and a polyester shower curtain (!) seemed to do the trick best. But in the end I just got a ready made curtain and had a friend add the lining and trimming to it and hang it for me.
The curtain was so expensive (I had it installed by a friend that I paid for her time) that it will be years before I get the cost out of it, but it sure is more comfortable.