Door bottoms are called many names. Some common examples include door sweeps, door shoes, door bottom seals, and weatherstrips. No matter what you call it, they all serve the same general purpose and are meant to seal the gap between your door bottom and the ground.

The best way to seal the gap at the bottom of your front door or an exterior door is by installing a vinyl door bottom or a door bottom sweep. These products will help keep air, dust, light, and sound out of your building. When they’re used in combination with a door threshold, you can almost completely seal the gap at the bottom of your door.

The easiest way to trim the bottom of a door without ruining the door itself is by using a sharp circular saw, a straight edge, and scoring your cut.

1. Begin by taking your door off its hinges and laying it flat.
2. Using a long ruler or another straight object, mark where your cut will be. Ensure your line is level. Otherwise, you will have a slanted door bottom when you finish. Remember, measure twice, cut once.
3. Take a utility knife or other sharp blade and score the line you’ve drawn along the bottom of the door. By scoring the door, you may avoid cracking the finish when you make your cut with the circular saw.
4. Power up your circular saw and carefully follow the line you just scored on the door.
5. Clean up any rough edges with some sandpaper and apply paint or another finish where needed.