Cold air pouring under the door, water seeping in when the snow melts, or a threshold that's worn, rusted or rotted? We adjust, reseal and rebuild door thresholds and sills across Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley — stopping drafts and leaks at the one spot every door is weakest.
The threshold is the hardest-working — and most abused — part of any exterior door. It's the one spot where you walk, where the door seals, and where melt water, road salt, rain and freeze-thaw all gang up year after year. So it's no surprise that the gap under the door is where Ottawa homeowners feel the cold first and find water on the floor first. At Fix My Door Now Ottawa, threshold and sill repair is a core part of keeping a door weather-tight, and one of the highest-value fixes we do for comfort and energy bills.
A threshold problem can be as simple as a settled adjustable cap and a flattened sweep, or as involved as a rotted sub-sill that needs rebuilding. We figure out which it is, fix the actual cause rather than caulking over it, and leave you with a doorway that seals against winter, sheds water outward, and crosses cleanly underfoot. It's close kin to our weatherstripping work, but focused on the bottom of the door where the toughest sealing happens.
If you can feel cold air — or slide a sheet of paper — under a closed exterior door, the seal between the threshold and the bottom of the door has opened up. Usually the adjustable threshold has settled too low, the door sweep has flattened and torn, or both. We raise the threshold cap to the right height, fit a fresh door sweep or bottom seal, and set the two so they meet and close the gap. In an Ottawa winter, that single fix can noticeably cut a cold draft across the floor and the heat loss that comes with it.
Water on the floor inside the door is more than a nuisance — left alone it rots the sub-floor and frame. It points to a failed sill seal, a threshold that's dropped so water runs back inward, or a damaged or missing sill pan beneath the doorway. We trace where the water is entering, reseal or replace the threshold and sill, and make sure the assembly sheds water out and away from the home instead of letting it pool and run inside.
Ottawa's melt-and-freeze cycle and winter road salt are hard on doorways. Wood sub-sills go soft and spongy, and aluminum thresholds corrode and pit until they no longer seal. When the base of the door is rotted or rusted through, an adjustment won't hold. We remove the failed threshold and any rotted sub-sill, rebuild the base with solid, rot-resistant material, and fit a new threshold so the doorway is structurally sound and weather-tight again. Where the rot has spread up into the jambs, this overlaps with our door frame repair service.
Most modern entry doors use an adjustable threshold — a cap that rides up and down on screws to meet the bottom of the door. It's a great system until the screws seize with corrosion or the cap won't hold its setting, leaving the door either drafty or hard to open. We free or replace the adjusting hardware and dial the cap to the right height: sealed against the sweep, but still easy on the door and safe to step over.
Cold air or water coming in under your door? The longer a leaking sill sits, the more it rots the floor beneath it. Call 613-265-3667 for flat-rate threshold & sill repair across Ottawa & the Valley, or request a free quote online.
The sweep along the bottom edge of the door is a true wear item — its fin or brush flattens, tears and hardens with age until it no longer touches the threshold. We replace worn sweeps and bottom seals and, crucially, pair them with a properly set threshold so the two actually meet. A new sweep over a sunken threshold still leaks; the fix is getting both halves of that seal working together.
Sliding patio doors and storm doors have their own sill and threshold seals that wear and leak just like entry doors — patio-door sill tracks fill with grit and lose their bottom seal, and storm-door sweeps flatten out. We service patio and storm door sills alongside standard entry doors. If your sliding door also drags or won't lock, see our patio door repair and sliding door repair pages.
Threshold problems usually travel with other sealing and frame issues. These pages will help:
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Same crew, same flat-rate pricing — explore our dedicated Ottawa door repair pages.
Ottawa winters are serious. We reseal doors to cut drafts, slash heating bills, and protect your home year-round.
Weatherstripping →Cracked, split, rotted or kicked-in frames and jambs restored and reinforced so your door seals and holds.
Door Frame Repair →Sagging, sticking, drafty, or damaged front entries repaired, realigned, and resealed for Ottawa weather.
Front Door Repair →Send a couple of details and we'll reply with a flat-rate price — no obligation, no pressure.
What Ottawa homeowners ask us most about drafty, leaking and worn door thresholds and sills.
Call for fast, flat-rate threshold and sill repair, or send a photo of the problem and we'll quote it for you — no pressure, no surprises.