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Small, old house. New door; need storm door idea

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

This is a horrible photo taken at noon when the sun as its brightest on the house. We have put in new windows, and had the new front door installed.

Now I need ideas for the storm door type and color.

Should I go with white to tie in with all the white windows?

Could I go reddish brown to blend in with the door? The door, deck, and roof are much darker than they appear in this photo.

I do not want anything to obscure the leaded glass window.

I want to be able to remove at least part of the storm door and replace it with a screen panel so I can see and hear the birds and enjoy any breezes we may get.

What would be my best options for this door and deck?

The rock garden is one of two and will eventually be filled with perennials. This year they it's holding overflow tomatoes, kale, cabbage an Swiss Chard.

Excuse the bird feeder hooks and bird house waiting to go back to the garage. I seem to never notice the "clutter" until I take a photo.

I truly appreciate any suggestions you can make about a new storm door.

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Comments (4)

maries1120
8 years ago
We are door shopping and hearing rave reviews on Provia storm doors but currently have a Larson and have been happy with it.

The Provia door site lets you visualize a door and add a storm door you can even upload your pic. Or create a door similar and put a storm door on it. To see different colors. They have more color options than most.
caroline94535
Original Author
8 years ago
Provia is one of my choices. In my area protection from the winters' cold, winds, and banking snow is the first concern. The only Provia dealer I can find is in Minneapolis, MN; that's about a 7 hour drive from me.

I tried sending an email to the company yesterday, and it was returned as "not a valid address". I am going to call them tomorrow.

I hoping they can make a storm door with the white outer frame, to match the windows, but have the cross piece for the removeable glass/screen parts painted in the dark brown so it won't appear as a white bar across my wood tone/textured steel door.

If not I'll see what they think about a dark brown storm door over my dark brown door. The door faces due east, and it very hot on the exterior until after noon. Once the sun moves over the house it cools off. The screen would be in the upper section from Spring until freezing weather.
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I'd say go for it. Make the jambs out of solid 5/4 stock with the door rabbet cut out, so no applied door stop molding. The heavy jambs will be such a great upgrade over the stuff they send out with prehung doors, not to mention the unspeakable garbage of split-jamb doors. You will need to figure out how to mortise the hinges accurately, and troubleshoot hanging problems like hinge-bind, and the one tool to invest in (for rabetted jambs) is a #78 stanley rabbet plane so you can plane tight spots on the jambs in place, after the doors are hung. A real time-saver. You will probably also want a #10 1/4 jack-rabbet plane (yes, seriously) to clean up the rabbets that you make with a table saw. Casey
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Usually the interior swing door and the storm door are mounted in the same size jamb, thus the same size doors. Front door are usually 36 x 80 and side and back doors are 32 x 80. Once in a while you'll run across a 30" x 80. But those are your most common sizes. Yes it is true, you can measure the interior door and that is usually the size of the storm door. Remember the door sill slopes downward towards the outside of the house and that is what the storm door bottom expander is for (U-Channel with slide in weatherstrip). It is used to accomadate the differernce in the height measurement. The Z Bar is the frame that comes with the door. You get three pieces, the handle side, the hinge side and the top. Its easier to mount the hinged Z bar right onto the storm door white laying on its edge. Be sure to let the top of that Z bar overlap the top of the door by 1/8" for door swing clearance. Measure the height where the door hinge goes. If it is 80 1/2", Measure down from the top of the hinged Z bar and cut it another 1/8" shorter to allow clearnace for the top Z bar to esaily go in - thats 80 3/8". Take note if your Z bar cut should be straight or slanted to fit on the sill. YOu cut the Z bar with a hacksaw. After fitted, mount the door-Z bar combo onto the the brick mould. Just put in a couple of screws for now. Put the rest in later. Now slide inthe top Z bar, closing the storm door over it.Create a equal space (the 1/8") across the top of the door - screw it down. Now measure the the handle side sill to bottom of top Z bar and cut it with the hacksaw. Rule of thumb, always cut the Z bar bottoms and leave the factory edge to the top. Except for closer, hardware and safety chain, the door is in. Oh and don't forget. Always install the door without the glass or screen in the door. Ther're the last things you put in. Good Luck The PorchGuy Here is a link that might be useful: My Album
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Funny that you both have the same example. We are not happy with the quality of our French doors we custom ordered through Home Depot so we don't want to order from them again. I love the door in your example but I'm also loving doors like this one I see on Pinterest but don't know where to order one. Not sure I'm comfortable with getting one off eBay either.
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Amy and all, just thought Id mention that this old house forum originated a bunch of years ago for people taking a more preservation or restoration approach and already on the same page about things like vinyl windows and saving original plaster so we could talk about other stuff. Of course a lot of projects ,maybe even most, fall somewhere in between strict preservation and total gut job so there is bound to be some overlap. IMHO the best renovations (and the ones that retain most value in $$$ terms) are ones that preserve the historic elements and layout as much as possible and any upgrades changes dont compromise the integrity of the house and blend in seamlessly. (A kitchen/bath addition can be a great solution because the plumbing and everything can be done w/o messing with the rest of the house.)
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maries1120
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Maybe they could add white trim after installing the brown door? We got a quote on a Proviav storm door from the place that sells Waudena doors even though they aren't a Provia door dealer. Then I saw them at the place that sells ThermaTru doors. But also at the Provia dealer. Maybe some other places carry the Provia storm doors that aren't showing up in your search.

I'm in SE Wisconsin so have those same concerns.
phoggie
8 years ago
Personally, I would use a white trim to match the window trim. Since the door is new, I doubt if you want to paint the door, but that is what I would do...in some pretty color what would make your door pop. If you want to stain the deck, you could match the stain color on your new door. As for storm doors, I have a full glass Pella storm door...and it has a full screen if you want to change it out.

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