DIY Draft Stopper / Door Snake

It's been fairly blustery outside over the last few days and it reminded me to make some door snakes. There is one door leading outside where the gap is especially large and requires a pretty fat snake.
I had bought some jasmine rice to fill up some hot/cold pads as gifts (a great way to use up remnants) and had just filled up one draft stopper with rice when I realized it's probably not an ideal material to use for a country house like mine that has a few mice scurrying around. Additionally, it apparently isn't a good material to use where it might get wet since it can get mouldy and sad.

So here is some of what I found when researching what to fill my door snake with:

Edible fillers: dried lentils, beans, rice, things like that
Non-edible fillers: sand, kitty litter, chopped up rags/fabric scraps, poly fill, a bunch of plastic bags, spruce (I had no idea crafting spruce was a thing), cherry pits, walnut husks, or just a rolled up towel. I also found a suggestion to use a pool noodle trimmed down to size.

Anyways, I loved the idea of putting something that would go to the landfill to work, but I don't have a lot of plastic bags. However, I have TONS of large bubble wrap somehow. I figured if people use it on their windows as an attempt to insulate, why not try to fill up a draft stopper? This may have been a foolish idea and not have the same kind of thermal mass as straight rice but.... away I went! And here's the process I used.

- Measure the width of your door frame + 2 inches or more and decide what height you want it to be. Please note, for taller door snakes, you'll need to add more than 2 inches (mine was a tad short)
- Cut a strip of fabric your width + height(2)
- Fold in half, sew one short edge and the long edge, leaving one short end open for filling
- Clip corners, invert the tube, poke corners with a pencil/dowel
- Lay your bubble wrap on the ground beside the fabric, depending on the size of the bubble wrap you can probably layer some things inside it, so I shoved extra pieces of smaller bubblewrap inside, then rolled it up like a big fat burrito
- Shove said burrito into the fabric tube, taking care not to pop everything. You may need to massage it a little to get the fabric over big bumps
- Trim off the excess bubble wrap, make a funnel and into the "core" or inner tunnel of the tube, scoop in some kitty litter (it's what I had kicking around)
- Fold the selvedges inside, pin, and whipstitch shut.

And there you have your bubble wrap door snake tube. Obviously with other materials the filling step will be different but I thought I'd share since it's such a simple project and very relevant this time of year.

I'd love to hear any suggestions for what other fillers might be good, and any feedback about the effectiveness of using bubblewrap in this scenario. I have to say, I've already felt a difference and have been able to turn down the heater in the room beside the door which is a real boon.

Lovely work! My compliments! :D

I think the idea behind a filling that shifts is only partly thermal mass, and quite a bit the ability to contour into the cracks that need blocking. Example: A pool noodle would be pretty useless in front of the door I keep draft stopped, as the floor is uneven, the trim is half the problem so it has to be covered too, and the door glass needs to be covered at the bottom too. The rolled up blanket I have there (I know, I don't have anything decent there) contours to fit up tight against the trim, against the floor and the glass, and can be kicked to tighten it up as needed. So I think it may be relevant if you have a mess like the door in this rental for a draft stopper to conform to irregular surfaces.

Just for information: Bubble wrap works well on windows because it provides dead air space, like a double pane window has. You kind of make it into a triple pane (or if you are me in a drafty rental, a penta-pane) for the winter. So consider what exactly you are trying do, when you pick your filling and fabric. That door here needs contouring, and insulation more than air flow block. There is one window on the north side that I have bubble wrapped with many layers, taped down, and it's got a towel draft stopper taped into it too, as it needs the air flow stopped on all of it, but also needs insulation in one area.

:D

I did something similar years ago - kids were little so I actually put eyes and a tongue on one end like a "snake".  I used Styrofoam packing peanuts for insulation and the fabric I used was salvaged from a coat which did the draft stopping.  It kept the peanuts out of the land fill and when we upgraded the door seals, the peanuts went to a local pottery maker for shipping uses, so that delayed the land-fill solution even longer.

In the right situation, bubble wrap would be a great option - definitely less attractive to mice than rice!

Of course! The double-pane effect! Thanks Pearl for the clarification, and a very good note about the filler conforming to cracks. The rice definitely does a good job of wedging itself into crevasses. In fact, I've been using my skinny rice snake to take care of a vertical gap in the door until I can refill it - which will probably be at some point today.

Nice job on the making of the snake! As far as using rice, we have been doing so for years and have never had a mouse be interested in having any. They come for all kinds of other things in our house, and can easily fit right under one of the doors a snake is in front of if they wanted to, but have never been interested in the rice.

Annie Collins wrote:Nice job on the making of the snake! As far as using rice, we have been doing so for years and have never had a mouse be interested in having any. They come for all kinds of other things in our house, and can easily fit right under one of the doors a snake is in front of if they wanted to, but have never been interested in the rice.

Oh! That's good to know. Good myth-busting.

Weird. Wonder why mice wouldn't want it? Cats in the area maybe? I have never seen a mouse turn down anything anywhere close to edible (soap is only close to edible, in my eyes.)

I have one here that I made from an old unwanted scarf, if you have any that someone has knitted you that are in reality truly hideous then folded in half and sown up on each side they make an excellent draft excluder, mine is filled with rolled up net curtains which means the entire thing can go in the wash, Important because they get filthy.

Here's a quick update on how things are going with the big ol bubble wrap boy.
It's.... annoying. As Pearl mentioned, the idea is to cover up the gaps, and since the bubble wrap has so much structure it doesn't hug gaps nicely. It might be better if you use the small bubble kind that is quite pliable and mix it in with other fillers, but I wouldn't recommend it. I actually took her advice and just rolled up an old scratchy towel and held it together with some rubber bands, which is great for a couple reasons - 1: no sewing required 2: takes 20 seconds to make 3: can double as a long mop when you come in with snowy boots and 4: can go in the wash! Sometimes the simplest things really are the best.

Doorsnakes have to be heavy enough to press down and sideways.  I don't think that bubble wrap or packing peanuts are heavy enough.

If you use kitty litter, use non-clumping kitty litter or it becomes a petrified door snake.

A better thing to do, however is to fix the door.   Get a sweep type from Home Depot for $Can12.98

Hi again! I decided to do a very quick amendment that turned this into a useful, way more effective door snake. If I could go back and edit my original post I would, so that nobody tries my terrible plastic idea, lol.

- I got my hands on some all-purpose sand for about $3 for a 20kg bag.
- I unpicked the edge where I filled it up, pulled out the bubble wrap and dumped whatever cat litter was inside back into the old litter container.
- I sewed a new seam straight down the middle of the snake, and another seam about a 1/4" parallel to it, leaving a bit of room at the top for me to fold it over later. This is going to keep it from bulging out too much and give it more height, which is what I was missing.
- I accidentally bought the wrong cat litter (we're transitioning to a non-clay-based kind) so I alternated scoops of that with some sand, and funnelled it into each new tube. Making two little tube chambers instead of one is a WAY more efficient method if you have a door like mine that has a big gap or a weird slant to the edge. The chamber method uses less filler and keeps the snake from losing too much length too - it actually spans the length of the door now!
- Fold the raw edges inside, and whipstitch shut again.
- Marvel in the fact that it's basically like having two mini door snakes which sit on top of one another and really can get snuggled into any weird shapes.

The fix took maybe 20 minutes max. I feel pretty dumb for thinking the bubble wrap could work, but maybe the chambers would be good for packing in more malleable plastic and some other heavy fillers, since I will admit this is a pretty freakin' heavy door snake now.

Anyways! Yay! I fixed it!

Thanks for this terrific thread, Haley. Another stuffing for the snake is cedar bedding from the pet store. I buy it in bales for under $10. After winter, I put the cedar-stuffed snakes in my closets to protect my wool clothing from moths. This other function gets those serpents out of the way during the "off season" and offers multi-purpose utility. I haven't had a moth problem in the house since I started keeping snakes in the dark reaches of the closet (about 7 years). The cedar-stuffed door snakes are easy to hide in the backs of the shelves and between sweater piles. They are $100's cheaper than lining your closet with cedar boards. I have never had to "refresh" the snakes but I imagine that additional cedar oil could boost the pleasant fragrance.

P.S. The cedar stuffed snakes are washable. I hose them off and dry in the sun.

Hayley Stewart wrote:Hi again! I decided to do a very quick amendment that turned this into a useful, way more effective door snake. If I could go back and edit my original post I would, so that nobody tries my terrible plastic idea, lol.

Yay! I was also not liking the plastic wrap idea since it didn't seem like enough weight.

I know others have had success with edibles but I'd be hesitant . . . though after we started having multiple cats, the only thing I've seen that the mice got to was those orange Mexican wheel thingies that you fry to puff up.

Kitty litter and sand seem like good, insect-and-rodent-free solutions!

First of all, I thank Hayley Stewart for the instructions and picture of the double snake. Brilliant. Then, thank you to Amy Gardener for the information about using Cedar bedding, also brilliant. Many thanks to both.

I also live in a drafty house, drafty during the winter months, don't notice any draft during the warmer weather. My house has 3 doors, one leading out of the basement, one on the side of the house opening  into the kitchen, and one in the front of the house, which faces west. My windows have storm windows that, while they do stop some of the draft, do not stop enough of it. I can hear the windows rattling on a windy day.

I cover most of the windows and the front entry door with plastic. The windows that are not covered are those that I open during warm winter months to let fresh air into the house. I do have a door snake at the bottom of the front door and still cover the whole door with plastic. Most of the winter prevailing wind comes from the west. I save the plastic from year to year, carefully peel it away from the window and door frames. the double sided glue tape can either be removed of left on the frames. It does dry during the summer, so next year, all I have to do is warm it with a hair dryer and it is as stick as new. Some years it does peel off, so I replace it.

This method may not appeal to others, but it works for me.

For those that have vertical snakes, how do you get them to stay?!?

I like to keep a fish in a bowl; the bowl gets yucky and I rinse and "scrub" the aquarium gravel around til the water is clear...Anyway, since it is bigger than sand (won't leak out) and heavy/conforming, and inorganic, used aquarium gravel would be a good filler.  I really enjoyed the final pic of the cat, knowing there is kitty litter in that snake!! XD  I'm lazy though - we just roll up old beach towels...

Instead of a 'door snake' I made a crochet 'draft dachs'. It is like a snake, but with tiny legs, a nose and ears, and a fluffy tail.

Crocheted with my own handspun wool and filled with wool too.

Just want to say that I have always heard these called 'draft dodgers'

We use buckwheat hulls for filling our door snakes. Heavy enough to do the job but not too heavy to move around. If they get wet from water dripping down our glass doors we don't have to worry too much as the boat shaped hulls dry quickly. They work to hold our thermal curtains in place, no gaps.

Drafts drafts and more drafts…

The openings the doors are mounted in are not shaped like the doors that are supposed to fill them.  Parallelograms instead of rectangles!  So I have triangular gaps at corners .  I have chosen one door to use, two to try to block up.

The small bubble wrap is very good to press into the long skinny gaps, but first I had to find a way to keep the door from blowing open!

I have discovered that two curtains hung separately stop a lot of drafts and cold from the cold windows.

A rug pulled up in the corner and covering a rolled up towel are working well at one of the doors.

I have to use bird seed to get texture in the ice at the door i do use.  That door seals well, but it is from the cold mud room which has a large dog door, so it’s one place where a draft would not be noticed.  The adventure at that door is that it was built under a valley on the roof.  When snow falls, it stays on the east side of the house, drips for a couple weeks.  Of course the drips refreeze ar night making ice.

But oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️ rather be here than anyplace else I can think of.  

The house itself seems impossible.  I hope to have a different house on this property by next winter, so partial fixes don’t seem worth it.  

A spur of the moment project to start the weekend this morning. We had some old pillowcases taking up space as well as cloth ribbon from a previous project. We also had some 'raw' wool to use a stuffing so it cost us nothing but our time.



My wife is an excellent seamstress and I am not. Luckily she is also an excellent teacher so we made three, one of them being my own.

She showed me quickly how focusing on the prep really paid off dividends when it got time to actually sew.



Keeping a straight line was a little tricky as I was new to using the sewing machine but I improved with time being hands on. I had to rethread the needle a few times but that wasn't too bad!

Once I got the ribbon and the edges sewed up, I started stuffing it with wool.



I could not of got the wool into the end easily by myself so I took advantage of a large dowel I had available.



The end product came out to be the perfect size for our back door and so far has helped reduce any draft we had.



It was a satisfying project.

Hindsight - I would of probably added something in addition to the wool for weight if I had to make them over again. They are light weight but do hold where I place them. Perhaps it is an advantage that I can just open the door and do what I need without sliding it out of the way. We will see with time.