From time to time I get a call to install a storm door on a door with sidelites. I have always turned them down because the doors would not fit properly (to my way of thinking) without substantial (and hokey looking) modifications.
The problems as I see them are the depth of the jamb will not allow an install without furring it out at least 1 1/2″ so that the handles (storm door) will not hit the door handle.
This causes a multitude of other problems though such as;
1) It looks bad
2) there would be a gap between the sweep and the threshold that would need a theshold extender which brings me to another problem.
A)If I put a threshold extender on a slab on grade house (95% of the houses with these kind of doors around here) it would hang out past the slab and be a tripping hazard.
It hasnt been a problem in the past to turn them down but now there is this one older lady that wants a Larson security storm door to try to keep intruders out.
I’m just wondering if there is a way to install this that I’m not seeing here that wont look so bad.
BTW, I refuse to reverse the hinge side to make the handles work and put my name on it so that is not an option.
When everthing is going your way, you’re in the wrong lane
Replies
bambam,
The last two Larson's I've installed were not pre drilled for the handle. So I was able to adjust the height of it, if needed. It could have been a diff. model though. I'm not sure if the two I installed were "security" doors or not.
northeastvt
The Larson security unfortunately is pre bored. It is the one with the hooks at the top and bottom and very heavy. Which brings another problem I didnt mention.
I dont think a furr out strip would hold the weight of the door. This lady may have to settle for unsightly bars or something else.When everthing is going your way, you're in the wrong lane
It's not that awkward to have the two doors hinged on opposite sides.
There are quite a few of the reverse hinged storm doors around here. Not my first inclinination, either (try to avoid it as much as possible) but sometimes that which disturbs us most might be the only answer.
Put in a Simpson entry with a single sidelight earlier this year, and an option they had was an extention jamb for a storm door. (I made my own, the supplied seemed cheesy and installed with staples.)
But you're right, it takes considerable fussing to get it installed right.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
We determine which side a storm door hinges on by the way the prevailing wind blows - or sucks.
Hang it the wrong way and you get to rehang it every year or two.
'course, I know you all don't get much wind down your way...
;)
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Here it is pretty much common to hang it with the hinges on the primary door. The one door I did hang opposite I caught so much flack I vowed never to do it again.
We had one opposite when I was a kid and you do get used to it though. It just seems wrong to me to do it that way.
Where there's a will, there are 500 relatives
Most trim on exterior doors here in NW FL is brick mould. I rip the brick mould to a 1" square and use it for the jamb ext. Anderson and Emco cover almost all the wood.
Larson is 1" also, but I dont think the brick mold furr out would hold up that door very long. IIRC it weighs about 125- 150.Where there's a will, there are 500 relatives
Is this new storm door getting installed on a really old house?
I can't imagine that you need to shim it out a whole 1 and 1/2 inches just to make the handles clear.
I just installed a (new) front door w/sidelites along with a pre-bored storm door with no problems as far as the handles hitting and being on the same side, but maybe I just got lucky since the customer purchased everything from the same company. This was also standard 2 x 4 framing.
Maybe you can pursude the customer to purchase a different size/style entryset for the main door, such as one that will allow the handles to clear.
Yeah, 1 1/2" would be the min. The door will set back an inch and the hancdle even further. The house is not that old, it was built in the 50's. The door is newer though I think.
She has drop handle hardware so I would need to fill in the screw hole in the bottom which wouldnt be a problem. Maybe I can see what I can come up with on that angle.Where there's a will, there are 500 relatives