I installed a Pella storm door at my father-in-laws house and would like one as well. If I remember correctly the top mounting frame is over 1" tall even with the break-off tab removed. I have a Pella entry door with side lights and only have 1/2" of header available to attach the top mounting frame. The frame opening is 36" X 80 1/2". Does anyone have a good trick to make a Pella storm door work in my situation? I can't seem to post an attachment but I do have a picture I can e-mail if that helps.

 

Have you checked with Pella? I'm sure that they have storm doors ready to fit their doors.

 

Pella gave me a price of $915+ to install a standard storm door, almost $1100 for a custom door. They don't know if a standard door will fit until they do a prefit check. Just looking for some tips to save myself many hundreds of $.

 

So you are saying that your rough opening is 80 1/2" tall, but that size is reduced because of only having a 1/2" lip on top to screw the top z-bar to, right?

And if you add a 1/2" filler onto the brickmould to give you a full 1" on top to screw the z-bar to, that would make the RO 80" which is a bit short for a storm door opening, right?

To be honest, I believe you can take a skilsaw/jigsaw/grinder and take 1/2" off the bottom of the door. Pella will likely void any warranty if you do this, but I don't think it will harm anything- it will just allow the threshold sill expander to slide up onto the door farther. You should be able to purchase a standard sized Pella storm door and not get a custom sized door. You can purchase 5 standard sized storm doors for the price of one custom one. I've done this with many doors, but not a Pella. The only way it wouldn't work is if the door has some screws in the bottom that hold the frame together- you obviously wouldn't want to shorten the door if it meant you would cut them off.

If I think of it, I'll look at a Pella storm that I installed nearby tomarrow and get back to you.

Worst case scenario is that you will need to install a 1/4" filler on top (what I'd say is the minimum needed to get the z-bar to work on top) and then you'd need to hope your door is perfectly level and square so that the sweep will work when it's adjusted as high as it can go. Another trick would be to lay the black sweep weatherstrip on a flat surface and attempt to trim 1/8 or 1/4" off of it so that it is not so long- this would also gain you a bit of room.

It sure is more fun to install storm doors on 81" tall openings.

 

I'm not sure that I can even attach the z-bar to a 1/2" header plus I still need to install the header frame.

The entry door frame is aluminum (not sure if there is any wood in there) so I'm not sure the best way to add filler. A solid piece of aluminum would be tricky as I would have to drill and tap for the z-bar. Perhaps 1/2" wood or plastic is good enough.

I think a standard Pella storm door can adjust for an opening as small as 79".

 

Storm doors usually only fit openings that are 80-81". Shorter openings interfere with the adjustable bottom expander / threshold sweep.

My comment about cutting a little bit off the bottom of the door will only work with certain models of Pella doors, so I can't say for sure that it would work with the model you purchase. And it may not even be necessary- I only mentioned it as an option in case you have a height issue where the opening would be too short due to lowering the door a little.

As far as your rough opening is concerned, it is currently the perfect size for a storm door. I'm not sure that you will even have a problem with the "header" -as you call it- being 1/2" wide. There's no reason you couldn't move the top z-bar down 1/4"... or, if it sticks up over the edge of the door 1/4" that's not a big deal either. If it gets hit with a lot of rain, you might want to silicone behind it to help prevent leaks.

 

Hello Pseudonym, I just installed a Pella storm door on my home and had to add 2 1/8" extra PT wood to the side lights to bring that molding out to meet the brick molding. I used 2- 2x4's and ripped them so that they would bring my side light molding out to meet even with the brick molding on the left and rigt of the side lights. If you would like you are welcome to email me your photos to JSKnox11@yahoo.com, and I can see if you are having the same trouble that I had. Please let me know if I can help.
Jeff