I’m expected to do THIS to the door every night because my mother is convinced air is coming through. It’s only coming through the bottom
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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This looks like a mental health issue.
Uh…your mom might have a legitimate mental health problem man…
You know they make rubber seals with thin metal strips that can tap in to the molding right?
Sure feels like this is a bit beyond normal, bud. It also seems like this could be a hazard, because you don’t want to 100% seal off the area you’re breathing in, and in case of a fire or other emergency you don’t want to be stuck fucking with 18 dish rags, a towel and 18 feet of tape.
Your mother is, with much understanding, respect and kindness, mentally ill.
I am a diagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenic. This is the kind of shit I do when unmedicated and not looked after. Please please get her help, if you are an adult and safely able to. If you are underage, or unsafe, look into getting help for yourself in your area,, or look into saftey measures for helping people with “Delusional Behaviors”, “Delusions”, “Psychosis”, “Paranoia”, and etc. I hope you are safe and well, and reach out to me if needed, DMs are open.
I don’t know your full story, but if you need insight from an insider of semi-severe mental health, I can help.
Dude, just hang a comforter over the door at this point, then ita like stepping into Narnia! Lol.
I think your mom might have a few issues. Maybe take her to a doctor?
You should spend $15 on some weather stripping and redo it around the door, then show your mom so she can stop this nonsense- this is like some OCD level stuff and she might need to talk with a professional about mental help.
Uh…I know a lot of people are conveying to you how strange this is, but this really is a certifiable, grade A, fucked level of strange. Like, grippy socks kinda shit.
It looks like she has an insane level of anxiety that manifests in OCD. This is the kinda shit I do when my stress levels get out of control. OCD is no joke, and it can get worse fast. Most people think ocd is flipping light switches 8 times or washing your hands nonstop. In reality, it’s more of a thought disorder. Most have irrational and repetitive thoughts that get super weird and sometimes dark. Like thinking, “I’m gonna jump off that” when passing by a bridge, but you know you’d never actually jump. Or thinking, “My husband is related to me somehow, and I may never know how.”
When the thoughts get to be too much, it can cause people to perform repetitive actions or rituals. Some people hand wash, others have to rearrange the same fucking pillow tastles over and over again because the god damned AC vent can’t be angled any other way but towards that fucking pillow.” Trust me that last thought made sense to me at the time.
Anyways, she should probably see someone. If it gets bad enough, see if you can have her committed. Or kick her out/you move. Cause she’s nuts.
It’s amazing how often people’s solution to having an abusive and controlling parent is ‘just don’t’.
“I wouldn’t put up with that, I’d tell her no!! I’d just do xyz and make her listen!!”
If you had that thought for even one glimmer of a second, you don’t get it
I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this: your mother is mentally unwell. Please take her to a doctor.
Why would the air be a problem lol
you would be better off with a curtain
At a certain point you’re wasting more money on tape then you save on heat escape
You’re not in a healthy home right now, OP. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. Is there another relative you can live with, if you’re a minor? If you’re an adult, save everything you can and consider living with roommates instead. I wish I could offer you more support.
In case this gets popular while I sleep:
-No, she has no mental health issues that have been diagnosed, she’s just extremely controlling and this is one of the ridiculous things she does to do so.
-We are not allowed to fix the door ourself because we live in an apartment
-Yes, I think she’s crazy.
-Those notes are there because she treats me like a toddler and doesn’t think I can do literally anything
Edit: NO I CANNOT GET HER TO SEE SOMEONE ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH. If you can figure out a way to trick her to do so, be my guest
Is she tweaking?! Like what the actual hell?
Go buy a carbon monoxide alarm asp.
Yep…thats how you seal up a mold farm…and i bet one will sleep well due to lack of oxygen
Light a stick of incense or a cigarette or something else that burns and produces smoke slowly — maybe a candle would work, too, but won’t be as clear. Hold it up to the edges of the door and show her no air is coming through. Then hold it to the bottom of the door. This is insane nonsense.
Your mother may have OCD, but regardless of the exact diagnosis she needs a mental health assessment ASAP.
There’s no arguing with draft phobes – reason and logic are meaningless. “I feel a draft!” overrides everything. And the draft *must be stopped*. Draft phobes are often highly suggestible, where just the sound of air moving will convince them that they feel a draft. An air cleaner/filter, 20 feet away, behind a heavy piece of furniture was running on the lowest setting and my wife swore that she could feel a draft.
What‘s so bad about air? 🤔
So if there were a fire, how much would this slow you down trying to escape? Close the door and run your hand around the reveal and if you don’t feel cold air then your seal is fine.
In addition, OP, I’m sure you’ve figured out the biggest source of hot air…
Your mom is unwell. Probably from the lack of airflow
Is she mentally okay?
If only they made something you could put around the edge of the door to seal it from air and it sold it at some place like Home Depot…
Dude what the fuck.
I’m assuming you’ve actually checked for bad seals? And if the answer is yes, made sure your mom’s health is okay?
Can I just ask a question?
Is this really about air flow for her, or her sneaky way to keep you from sneaking out or sneaking someone in while shes asleep?
Ive just been reading your replies here and she seems extremely controlling. My mother is too and she did things like this to me at night until I moved out.
Buy some door weather stripping. It is applied via tape, so you can pull it off when you move.
She crazy.
Can you tell us if you believe your mom is eccentric or if this is more likely mental illness brooding in some shape or firm?
What do you think? Have there been any other signs?
And most importantly, beyond her sounding like a byatch, isn’t affecting your life negatively? Is she perhaps being borderline abusive?
It might be good to get an outsiders opinion.
Call your power company. Most have programs for insulation and winterization to help with this and in most cases it’s at no cost to the homeowner.
OP, stop doing this. You know this is far from normal. They make door seals if there’s an actual draft.
Fire hazard. Clear and present danger. Get mother to a doctor.
Seriously. The air comes through the bottom ON PURPOSE!!!
Generally Americans houses with central heat are designed such that the heating vents blow into the rooms and the air flows back to the center intake. If your room is sealed, the air cannot escape your room, so you won’t get any heat.
So a bottom gap is intentionally used to allow the heat to circulate through the house.
In fact, closing all the gaps like this will probably damage your furnace or, at best, cause it to turn off because of a lack of air flow over the heat exchanger.
lean into it, become the crazy one in the equation, start taping off windows, the fridge, and the toilet bowl lids. Spray foam the ouside of the freezer. Declare with intensity that theses are just as large or larger problems than the door. Get nuts about it, check on your seals every 10 minutes, do the incense thing, but always find drafts. Take the seals down and put them back up. Hit a level that makes her question your sanity. Maybe it’ll drive her to realize how nuts shes being.
I tend to overescalate.
Get some bubble solution and do some experiments – spray it into the cracks then close it and increase the pressure on one side. If the door leaks you will see bubbles on the low pressure side of the door.