How to Change Weather Seal on PlexiDor Large Plus and Extra Large Dog Doors

Check out our quick video guide on changing the weather seal for your PlexiDor XL and BiteGuard. Keep your door sealed and your pet protected!
Video Transcription
  • 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:32:23 PlexiDor Guide: So here we have a white guard dog door, which is similar to the plexi door size large plus and extra large. And what makes them similar is they both have aluminum T slot trim around the edge of the acrylic panels. This video is going to show you how to change the weather seal to replace the weather seal that's in that aluminum t slot.
  • 00:00:32:25 - 00:00:58:28 PlexiDor Guide: we find it's easiest for you to unscrew the dog door from wherever it's installed and take the whole dog door frame out of the hole so that you can, lay the dog door frame down and manipulate it as you pull out the weather seal and put in the new weather seal. so the first thing we're going to show you is how to remove and replace the weather seal on the spine of the dog door panel.
  • 00:00:59:01 - 00:01:41:29 PlexiDor Guide: That's the, trickiest to get to. So once you've done that, the other sides are all much easier to access. So, watch now as we, position the door so that we can, access the spine of the panel and remove the existing weather seal. All right, so we have positioned the dog door, flat on his back, and then we push one of the panels inward so the panel is tilted up, and you can have access to the spine of the panel where the weather seal is located.
  • 00:01:42:01 - 00:02:07:22 PlexiDor Guide: So here you can see where that round punch out is. There are several, several of them on the back side of the panel. And that is where the screws located that holds the aluminum t slot to the panel. That location is a good spot to start to remove the weather seal from the T slot. You can use a small flathead screwdriver and wedge it underneath.
  • 00:02:07:22 - 00:02:33:20 PlexiDor Guide: There. to start to pull up the weather seal. And once you get some material up, the rest should you can then pull from there. You can also use needle nose pliers to grab the weather seal in that location and start to pull it out. Here is, how that might.
  • 00:02:33:22 - 00:02:51:19 PlexiDor Guide: As you can see, we've started to pull some of it. Now, you you may find some locations are easier to pull out than others, and it might even break and come off in chunks. that's all right, because you're removing it all anyway.
  • 00:02:51:21 - 00:03:12:13 PlexiDor Guide: So work at it. pulling on it, and we find that if you use the, needle nose pliers and roll up the weather seal this way that you get a better purchase and can really pull that weather seal right out of the channel.
  • 00:03:12:15 - 00:03:33:28 PlexiDor Guide: Sometimes people, will take a utility knife and score down the center of the all weather seal to make it so that the weather seal will pull out in two pieces. And sometimes that's a little easier. So if you want to do it that way, you can do that as well. All right. So now you can see the channel.
  • 00:03:34:00 - 00:04:13:13 PlexiDor Guide: We call that the T slot channel where the weather seal has been removed. And if you look closely you can see there are several punch locations along the length of it. These punch locations. You're going to have to use a small flathead screwdriver. And, pry up there. There might be some metal debris where that was punched down, and you're going to have to use that small flathead screwdriver to, bend the bend the metal back up, and you might even get a little piece of metal debris to come out, and you want to pull up on it.
  • 00:04:13:20 - 00:04:40:07 PlexiDor Guide: All right. So push down to pull up on the material on the metal so that it will bend back. And this is all to clear the the channel so that the new weather seal will slide in place easily. So now we're going to try and insert the new weather seal. Now to start is sometimes a little tricky. You're going to be starting it here on the end.
  • 00:04:40:10 - 00:05:04:22 PlexiDor Guide: You can also start right here and then back slide it in. if you if you find resistance where the punch outs are. And even here, you may again have to just go back in a little bit with the end of the small flathead screwdriver. So now we're going to show you how we're going to insert the weather seal.
  • 00:05:04:22 - 00:05:27:13 PlexiDor Guide: And we're not going to cut the weather seal. We're going to insert the weather seal starting here. We're going to pull it the whole length of the channel. And we're going to pull it past. And then we will cut the weather seal with some additional extra on the end. And we will pull it back to the terminus here.
  • 00:05:27:16 - 00:05:46:00 PlexiDor Guide: So watch as we do that. Now.
  • 00:05:46:02 - 00:06:15:23 PlexiDor Guide: You may find it easier to to leave the weather seal backing into the channel using a pair of needle nose pliers. And once you get it started, once you get about an inch or two in there, it really will slide in pretty well. There you go. And just.
  • 00:06:15:25 - 00:07:01:26 PlexiDor Guide: You'll notice that whenever you come to one of the punches or the screw holes that there's a, it's a little trickier. And you might have to push down a little to get through that depression for where the, screw hole or the, punch hole was located.
  • 00:07:01:29 - 00:07:28:06 PlexiDor Guide: And then we're going to pull a little extra through because we want to, back up on the other side. So there we pulled through a little extra just so that we'll have extra. You don't want to cut your weather seal too short and have too much of a gap. So. Here we go. You're going to see here that we're cutting quite a bit extra.
  • 00:07:28:06 - 00:07:36:14 PlexiDor Guide: And this is just in case when we're pulling it back and forth. We chew up the end and,
  • 00:07:36:16 - 00:07:41:19 PlexiDor Guide: Our.
  • 00:07:41:21 - 00:08:14:17 PlexiDor Guide: Over here. All right, so we pull this back, so we get to that screw hole again, and then now we should. It should be easier for us to, guide that weather seal. All the way to the post. There we go. All righty. And now. This side, we've got extra. And we're just going to pull it to the end.
  • 00:08:14:19 - 00:08:39:10 PlexiDor Guide: And this may happen. It may pop out on you. All you have to do is slide it back to the other side and then bring it back again. So we have push the weather seal and all the way past the end of the panel on both sides. And now you're going to cut it and you want to cut it so that it matches the end of the panel.
  • 00:08:39:11 - 00:09:06:19 PlexiDor Guide: That'll prevent air gaps. And that's easily done. Just use a pair of scissors. in this video just now, when we put the new weather seal in the channel, we skip the step of putting the drops of silicone in the channel. And we did that on purpose because we wanted it to be easier for you to see us manipulating the weather seal as we slid it in place.
  • 00:09:06:22 - 00:09:32:13 PlexiDor Guide: But you are going to be putting a few drops of silicone in the channel of the weather seal when you slide it in place, but really, the weather seal should stay where it is pretty well be just because of its length. There isn't anywhere for it to fall, but just to be safe. If you wanted toward the terminus, you can put a bead of silicone at both ends to hold it down securely.
  • 00:09:32:15 - 00:10:03:05 PlexiDor Guide: So again, if you have problem chewers or this is a kennel situation, you're going to want to use a 3/16 or A58 nut center. And in 3 or 4 locations along the length of the aluminum t slide, you're going to want to tap. And, you're basically crimping the aluminum down on to the backing for the weather seal.
  • 00:10:03:08 - 00:10:28:27 PlexiDor Guide: And that makes it so that if the dog does manage to grip the fibers and pull on it, the metal trim bites into it and holds it better in place. When you do this, you do want to be sure don't tap down super hard. And as you can see, we have put cardboard underneath the dog door so that, it cushions and also doesn't destroy your service, your surface that you're working on.
  • 00:10:28:29 - 00:10:54:09 PlexiDor Guide: But you do the removal and the replacement of the weather seal the same on all four sides of each panel. And again, that spine side is the most challenging. But as you can see from the video. just be a little patient and you can get it done.