So the back door looked naked to me. I decided that I wanted to put a screen door up, since the weather is getting warmer and it’ll be nice to leave the door open to get some fresh air into the kitchen. I checked to see what Lowes had to offer and saw all sorts of doors to choose from. After some pondering, I decided to go with a storm door that also had a screen on it, instead of a simple screen door. A nice duel purpose door that will work nicely in the summer, as well as in the winter.

The one I picked out was a nice Larson Bismark that cost me $94.00. I liked that it vinyl over a solid wood core, which was much more appealing to me than the cheaper metal aluminum doors. Also the screens and windows are self-contained, so you don’t have to store the pieces somewhere and change them a couple times a year.

To save a few bucks, I decided to install it myself. The directions were pretty straight forward, although confusing at some points. Thankfully, Larson has a fine web site, and are kind enough to provide free online streaming video with step by step instructions on how to install their storm doors. Very cool. If you’ve never done this before, I highly recommend watching those quick clips.

Naked looking new back door in March 2005.

New storm door over it, with fully caulked edges.

Much better, if I do say so myself. The door doesn’t look as “unfinished” anymore.

Tips & Stuff I Learned
Avoid cheap aluminum storm doors. Vinyl (with a wood core) all the way, unless you’re loaded and don’t mind spending a couple hundred bucks for something even better. But compared to the aluminum doors, the vinyl ones are easier to clean, have less metal parts that can rust if/when the door is exposed to the elements, are less likely to get dented, and they don’t make that annoying sheet metal noise when they close/slam.

Seems like all these off-the-shelf doors are 32 or 36 inches wide. I’ve seen one that was 30. So it’s good to measure the area you’re going to put it in before making the purchase. I assumed my opening was 36 inches wide, but it was only 32. So I’m glad I broke out the measuring tape before buying. As for height, the doors themselves are 80 inches from top to bottom, but many boxes say 81 inches because of the expander that comes with it. That thing goes on the bottom of the door and lets you adjust it up and down so you get a really snug fit. If you’ve got a doorway bigger or smaller than this, you’ll probably need to go custom.

When I first installed the door, it closed pretty well, but I noticed it became a little loose and didn’t seal completely and latch automatically after a little while. Adjusting the closing thingy by moving it up a notch solved that and made the entire door a little tighter. Speaking of the closer, I think it’s pretty cool that you can install it at the top of the door. All storm doors I’ve used (usually cheap aluminum) had it smack in the middle, which can be an annoyance when you’re trying to fit something large through the doorway.

Caulk is your friend. When you attach the door, some of the frame between screws can rise up if you over-tighten or just have a slightly uneven doorway. Break out the caulk to fill in those gaps. If the color of your door frame is the same as the storm door (usually white), then latex caulk is the best quick hide. If not, then you’ll need to break out the paint and touch up the white caulk after it dries so it matches your door frame. Clear silicone caulk is also an option, if you just want a seal and don’t want to paint.

These vinyl doors can be cleaned with simple soap and water, glass cleaner, ammonia solutions and most common cleaners. You can use vegetable oil, fingernail polish remover and hair spray to remove sticky stuff, like stickers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 5th, 2005 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Exterior, Projects (completed). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.