DIY Home Improvement Forum banner
1 - 16 of 16 Posts

· Registered
Joined
·
598 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Would like to have a screen (or alternatively storm) door in front of this front door. But not sure if it's frame can support installing such a door. I only need it where the door is and not the whole door frame w/ the side windows.

I think I recall only seeing storm and screen doors on door narrower door frames that didn't have those side windows only the main door. Am I out of luck?
 

Attachments

· Registered
Joined
·
2,784 Posts
You can mount a storm door -
For a door like you have - "Full-View", storm door -
It'll detract from the good looks of your door - less.
Measure the door - that's probably, going to be the size of the "storm" -
door.

As far as the side-lights go - those will probably, be special order.
 

· Household Handyman
Joined
·
2,481 Posts
I did a front door/lite set such as this about a year ago. Yes you can install a storm door on this front door, but not one of the "off the shelf" items. "rossfingal" hit it again--a "Full view" door will work with this and show off most of your pretty door. You can also order, in most cases, a nice complementary trim color for this door set. And Yes, storm "windows" for the side lites can be made. I had them made for the set I did. One piece tempered glass with frame to fit. My customer had an issue with rain blowing up under the five foot (5 ft.) stoop and staining their wooden door. The finished results were very good. Do your measuring and pricing.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
598 Posts
Discussion Starter · #5 ·
>> Why would you want to.

Maybe I didn't quite phrase it right, maybe not a storm door (the glass ones?) but the tough metal screened doors (typically white or black color) or a more flimsy screen door like the sliding ones for sliding glass doors, except these swivel like a normal door rather than slide.

Wanted to be able to open front door for air/ventilation w/o pests and (bigger) dust coming through.

I saw Home Depot, Lowes has sliding screens that mount to front door frame as well, but not sure if my door frame has the space for it as the area in the center frame that's protruding out doesn't have much margin space when you account for the door knob length, it's like a half inch or less from what I recall.
 

· Banned
Joined
·
17,162 Posts

· Registered
Joined
·
598 Posts
Discussion Starter · #9 ·
So in other words, you want your house to look like it belongs in the ghetto.
Well, I can see having a screen in front could detract from the beauty of the door. And maybe the hard metal screen doors is overkill, but is a regular mesh screen in front (swivel or retractable sliding type) not normal? Though maybe not so for a front door with the side windows, but I've seen them on the regular front doors w/o the sides.

By the way, you should see the rest of the house, and the neighborhood. The house has nice parts to it like the door, but as some of the house fixup/upgrade work was DIY (not by DIY pro) by previous homeowner(s), parts of it is crappy too. The neighborhood is ok in terms of people and condition of homes, but a little towards the ghetto-y side, you see nice houses and crappy (not well maintained) houses in the same area.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
598 Posts
Discussion Starter · #10 ·

· Banned
Joined
·
17,162 Posts
The swivel are still Ghetto, the retractable is what you would see on a patio or on french doors. As for you stating the area is Ghetto or not, the term Ghetto means that the crime rate has risen, along with low income rentals have taken over.

I live in what you would say a near downtown neighborhood, with mixed living. We have low income, Section 8 on both sides of the street that I live on, but otherwise, majority of the area is safe. Only those homes that the people are either scared of being broken into, due to previous experience, or the area has allowed the gang members to take over, you only see the steel security style doors on them.

Look at what your neighbors have on their homes, along with the fact, if you do place a actual steel security door on the front of your place, how much it will detract from the value of the place, or make you a target for those looking for places that are telling them subconsciously to try to get in there, due to you are trying to protect what is inside from the outside.

If this is a covered porch, you are better to just leave the front entry as is, and utilize good locks, security system/noisy or large dog. As for fresh air from the outside, most people now days, use Air exchangers to bring in clean outside air, so that they do not have to deal with the humidity, dust, other contaminants airborne.

But if you want to go with the front entry screened door, again, go look at what others have in your area on their front doors, and how they look.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
598 Posts
Discussion Starter · #12 ·
What do you mean by air exchangers?

The house is old (1959) with some renovations, so it has no central AC, don't feel like using portable AC units or putting in central AC or ductless systems. Using fresh cool air outside is cheaper, and the front door is best point of entry for that area of the house.

Guess I should look into retractable unit from custom installer, will see how much that will cost.

By the way, one of my next door neighbors has a steel security door (home is rented to tenants though, not homeowner residence), but not the other. I wasn't really looking for the steel security door but the mesh screens for the front door.

Or I guess I could screen the porch instead w/ retractable screens.
 

· Banned
Joined
·
30,077 Posts
I use a lot of Larson’s, check out Anderson's web site too. There are enough options to make your head spin.

The color you choose is everything in your case…anything but white.
+1

That is a great place to start.

Provia also makes some (Storm Doors).
 
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top