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Wooden Screen DoorsWooden Screen doors or "Granny Doors" combine a beautifully made traditional storm screen door with modern screening and door hardware. The wooden screen door makes a wonderful addition to a main entrance door. It is also possible to refinish an old wooden screen door and incorporate modern screen frames to make the storm screen door a little easier to maintain. An original wood screen door generally has steel or copper screening held in by nailed wooden cleats. Invariably the cleats are ill fitting and worn since they have been pulled out and replaced many times over the years. You can remove the cleats again to repair the wood screen door but its better to modernize the repair a little. Have a new aluminum screen frame made for the wood screen door by your local glass shop and save yourself the fuss and bother of changing the screen wire and nailing in the cleats. The last hammer blow always goes through the new screen of the storm screen door anyway! Also remove your wooden storm door in the winter and store it away from the cold and damp. No matter how good the carpentry, winter storms will take their toll on a wooden door. Keep it safe during winter in the garage. Let your steel entry doors be exposed to the cold weather. They are designed for it. You may need to replace the storm door hinges with removeable hinge pins so its easy to get the door off. Heres a link to a typical storm door hinge with removeable hinge pins Installation tips for wooden doorsOne area to watch out for with a wooden storm door is the door sweep. In older homes, the bottom of the wooden storm door was planed at an angle to match the threshold or bottom door sill. There were often no door sweeps or weatherseals on the bottom of the door. Many modern wooden doors are still made this way.I think its a good idea to use modern vinyl door sweeps for the bottom of wooden storms. You are going to have snow, leaves and moisture building up at the bottom of the door and over time this will rot the wood at the bottom of the door. Cut the door a little shorter to provide clearance for a vinyl door sweep. The vinyl will protect the bottom of the door. You will get a better weather seal and if the vinyl gets damaged its easily replaced. Here are some links to books about door and window building if you wish to look into doing the job yourself or get more in-depth information about how wooden storm doors are put together Follow this link - Fiberglass and Aluminum screen information This page will help you select the right kind of screen material if you chose to do the job yourself. You might also want to consider using a vinyl storm door, these are certainly more weather resistant than wooden versions. A vinyl door can be left in place year round. Just be sure the vinyl is thick. The thicker and heavier the better. Thin vinyl has a tendency to get dried out in the hot sun. Over time the suns radiation will make it become brittle. It will eventually crack or shatter. Vinyl doors generally have welded steel framing inside to help them keep their shape. This is certainly more durable than the cast magnesium components used in the old aluminum storm doors. Sometimes you can find a really nice old wood door in good condition in local estate auctions or even on Ebay. The links below show wood doors presently for sale on Ebay. Wood Shop Network Click the Wooden Screen Doors link to get back to the home page. Turn you garage into a screen porch with a Garage Screen Door How an Aluminum Conservatory is put together You can install a window pet door in a window screen so your cat can enter or leave at will Some information about Solar Window Screens Different types of Storm Door Handle Some information about Window Sash Replacement Some information about Window Glass Repair Some information about Three Sided Patio Screen Rooms Some information about Vinyl Screen Doors Some information about Window Sash Locks Learn how to do Window Cleaning and Glass Cleaning like the Pro's Some helpful tips about installing patio door drapes You can install screen dog doors yourself so your pet can come and go as they please
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