Design Hardware Sweep with Brush

That is the main reason to pick the brush type. The Design Hardware sweep uses a 1 inch heavy duty gray nylon brush instead of a rubber or vinyl blade, so the bristles flex around gaps, worn thresholds, and slightly out-of-level slabs where a stiff rubber insert would only touch the high spots. Brush also drags less on carpet and exterior mats. Where you need a true air and water seal on a flat, sound threshold, a rubber-blade sweep is the tighter choice.

Two lengths are offered, 36 inch and 48 inch. Standard commercial single door leaves are 36 inches wide, so the 36 inch sweep covers those with no cutting. For anything between 36 and 48 inches, or a narrower leaf, order the 48 inch and cut the aluminum carrier down on a chop saw or hacksaw and trim the nylon brush to match. Never stretch a short sweep across a wider door, the ends are where the draft comes through.

The carrier is 1 7/8 inches high with 1 inch of nylon brush hanging below it, so you have roughly an inch of bristle to work with once the sweep is mounted at the bottom of the door face. Mount it so the tips just kiss the threshold with the door closed. If your undercut is larger than about an inch, you want a taller sweep or a door shoe with a drip cap rather than this one.

The sweep body is only 1/4 inch thick, so it sits nearly flush to the door face and adds almost nothing to the leaf. That matters on an out-swinging door with a raised saddle threshold, or where a door shoe or weatherstrip is already eating clearance. The brush is the only part in the swing path, and nylon bristles sweep over a threshold lip instead of binding on it.

Dark Bronze and Mill Finish are the two options. Mill Finish is the natural uncoated aluminum, which blends with clear anodized aluminum storefront and mill-finish frames. Dark Bronze matches bronze anodized storefront, dark bronze thresholds, and painted dark frames. Both come in the 36 inch and 48 inch lengths, so a property manager standardizing a building can keep one finish across every opening.

Nylon brush is the type to use in that situation. The 1 inch gray nylon is specified as heavy duty, and bristles keep working after they take abuse that would tear or curl a rubber blade, which is why brush sweeps end up on school, retail, and multi-family entries. They also shed dirt and grit instead of dragging it, and they do not stiffen up in cold weather the way vinyl does.

Brush sweeps are commonly specified for exactly that, and the dense 1 inch nylon fill closes the light gap under the leaf that mice and insects use. Understand the limit: bristles are a barrier, not a seal. For determined rodent exclusion on a warehouse or dock door, pair the sweep with a metal-armored door shoe or an astragal at the meeting stile so there is no soft-only path in.