Installing Storm door with no instrucitons

We bought a house that has no storm door on the back door. We found one in the shed that has never been used and it doesn't even have a handel on it. It has a frame that we will have to install first. The door and frame are slightly too wide and tall for the opening. I actually told my husband to pull the frame from the top of the outside of the doorway, when he did there was flashing that was attached underneath the siding. We stopped because we couldn't pull it out and didn't want to mess up the siding. Can we just cut the flashing down so it won't interfere with the the frame? And do we just cut the frame and the door down to size with a hacksaw? I want to use this door. Where should we start, please be very specific and give me step by step. Thanks!

 

I would not cut or change the flashing on the house because you don't want to create a new problem for yourself. Typically the frame of the storm door may be cut to the proper height of the door but seeing that the door is both too tall and too wide I'm afraid you may have determined the exact reason why the door wasn't used in the first place. On an aluminum storm door I'm not sure how you would cut the door to fit and the integrity would surely be lost if done so. Could this door be used on another doorway?

 

I love your lead in title. It is the way men do things anyway!! Your storm door should attach to the exterior brick molding of the door. You may want to post a couple of pictures of what you have on a site such as photobucket.com and either give us the urls or copy/paste the HTML code to your reply post. It will let us see what you see. Pix the door frame and the door assembly, too.

 

Our house is not brick, it is wood. I've heard somewhere you can cut the door with a hack saw and "sand" or "file" the rough edges. The bottom of the door has a removeable gold piece that would hide the edge if we cut the door at the bottom. This is the only doorway that I need another storm door in besides the front door, which already has one. By the way, the front storm door handle is opposite the entry door, it is an old screen door and I want to keep it, the door is the only reason I wanted to look at the house, but I can't change the way the the entry door opens because it would just look tacky inside. Is there anyway to change the storm door without having holes were the handle used to be? Or does anyone know of a place that for a reasonable price would take the front door "stained glass" at the bottom and put it on a new door? Thanks a bunch, you guys have really helped us out alot, we don't know what we're doing, but we're definetly willing to learn to save money, plus it just feels good fixing up your own house. Thanks Again.
P.S. I will upload the pictures of the back door here tomorrow. 2/26/08

 

NEVERMIND about the back door being too tall and wide, it is not, if anything it is slightly too narrow, but I think with the frame it will fit perfectly. It is the top and the two sides of the frame that came with it that is too wide and too long, I am sending pictures tomorrow. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

OK, the pix helped tremendously. First, you do have brick mold on your door. It's called that regardless of whether or not you have a brick exterior. Your storm door frame will fit just inside the molding. You will need to measure the total door opening, which should be either 32 or 36", or thereabout. Then measure the storm door itself just to see if it will fit. What will really help would be to go to a big box store and kindly ask one of the millworks people at the big desk near the doors to copy a set of installation instructions so you can follow them in assembling the door and installing it in the opening. From the pix, it looks like a Larson, so you can pick it out a similar one (the instructions are basically the same), and have them copy it for you. We're here to help, so post back if we can help further with it.

 

I see a serial number label on the 'frame', that will tell you the brand and model.

If its a Larson, you can watch a vid and print instructions from this page.

http://www.larsondoors.com/questions/installation.shtml


If it's Andersen, Forever, or Emco, try here...

http://www.stormdoors.com/faq/

As chandler said, the install is pretty much the same for any brand.

But, I gotta say, the screen looks damaged, the z-bars ('frame") looks bent and damaged, yer missing a handle and lock mechanism (prob close to $50 or more), and looks like no screws, closers, etc.

You might be better off going to yer local Box store and finding their clearance bay. You could probably find a complete new door for less than you will spend on repairs and parts for this one.

 

I'm with Gunguy45 -- The door you have COULD be mounted, but given the shape that it appears to be in, you'ld probably be just as well off going to either the big orange or big blue box and getting a new one, installing that, and recycling the old one.

And then you'ld have installation instructions. (WHAT ARE THOSE???)

 

Ok, thanks for all the advise. My husband is very happy to hear that someone besides him thinks we should just get a new one. With that being said, we will scrap the old one and head to Lowes. Thank you.