There are few things around the house more aggravating than a storm door that's seen better days. From a comfort standpoint it lets in drafts that can more accurately be described as winds, which is also a concern on the energy-efficiency front. What's more, an old storm door is usually a real heel-grabber, invariably catching your foot as you're stumbling through with an armload of groceries. Here's your chance to rip out that offensive portal and rescue your ankles and energy bills in one fell swoop.
Storm doors available on the market today have distinct advantages over the ones you could get even 10 years ago. For one thing, depending on the style you choose, you can get a lot more glass now, with two big lights rather than the three-skinny-panel look. If you don't want to use the door for ventilation you can get a storm door with a picture window that fills its entire height. Another advantage is the hardware; it's a lot sturdier than the cheap latches that crumple under the pressure of your thumb.
We picked up this door, an Aluminart model at Home Depot for $270. Not the cheapest available, certainly, but we were looking for a door that would stand the test of time. This model comes with two pneumatic closures, one for the top and one for the bottom, giving the door a lot more authority when swinging shut. Like all such closures, their strength can be adjusted with the valve located on the door end of the cylinder. Closing the valve makes the door close more slowly, while opening it up makes the door swing quickly into place.
This door, like most higher-end storm doors, also came equipped with weather stripping and a series of rubber sweeps on the bottom to keep out drafts. You may have to trim these a little once the door is installed if they interfere with easy opening and closing.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
A hand-held screwdriver, hammer, drill-driver, hacksaw, tape measure, level and assorted drill bits are all you need for this job. The 7/8" bit shown here actually came packaged with the door hardware.
The first tip that the instruction manual gives is to remove the glass and screens from the door before commencing any work to ensure they don't get damaged. This is good advice, as it also makes the door a lot lighter to carry around. Lay the door out on a couple of sawhorses to install the hinge strip -- most screen doors ship without hinges attached so you can mount them on either side. Of course, the same instruction manual also advises you to mount the hardware on the opposite side of the door from the hinges'seems obvious but perhaps some people need the help.
Once you've got the door in place and the hardware mounted, including the closures and the safety chain on top, you can reinstall the glass. Gently tap the plastic support strips into place using a wood block to protect them.
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