Wooden Screen Doors
Wooden 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 wood 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 wood 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.
A wooden storm door is also more flexible for installation in odd size door frames. You can trim a wooden door to your exact frame height and width within an inch or two. This can be an important benefit. Aluminum and Vinyl storms have to purchased in the exact size. If you dont have a typical 30" or 32" or 34" door frame, a wooden door may be your only option.
Wooden doors are also recyclable. You can reclaim doors from older homes and use them on your new home - so long as they are the right size. There are many businesses that specialize in reselling antique doors for reuse. Many demolition companies save the old wooden storm doors from buildings they have demolished. Charities such as Habitat for Humanity have used building material stores where you can often find a good used door.
Installation tips for wooden doors
One area to watch out for with a wood 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 weather seals 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.
Storm door hardware
Wooden and aluminum storms often share some of the same parts so the storm door hardware page will help you locate and install parts that your door may be missing.
Not to mention this separate page on storm door locks and this page about screen door closers.
If you have to deal with dogs, cats and kids you will appreciate the help provided by the how the how to fix a storm door screen page, especially since it gets into dealing with screens that are difficult to remove.
The page on security screen doors talks about how storm doors have become both high art and high security.
Vinyl storm doors
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.
Questions about
Wooden Screen Doors
by Doug S.
(Weaverville, NC)
I am looking for a wood sliding patio screen door. Any idea on where I can find one?
Screen door hardware
by Joyce
(Rapid City)
I am looking for the hardware that holds the screen or storm window into the wooden door. You put a screwdriver into a slot, turn it and a piece of metal slides into the wooden door. What are these things called and where can I find one?
Making a sliding screen door
look like a wooden door
by Louisa H
(Murfreesboro, TN)
Hi,
I have a question, I love the traditional wood screen doors with all the detail. Do they make a sliding screen door that looks like that?
I would love to put one on my deck door, I do alot of work in the yard and my neighbors to the back of us always say how much they love looking at our yard. I thought a pretty screen door on the back would just make their day!(mine too). They are elderly and keep an eye on our 2 yellow labs we have.
Anyway it was a thought and hope you could give me an answer.
Thank you,
Louisa
Hi Louisa,
You could take a digital picture of your favorite wood screen door and have it printed right onto screen cloth and then install that in your sliding screen door.
There are also pre-made prints available to make your sliding screen look like a wood door. Check out the patterns on my printed screen material page.
Hope this helps
Wooden screen door
by James
I am looking for a 34 inch wide wooden or vinyl screen door.
Wooden patio door problem
by Peace
(Appleton, WI)
I don't know if you can help me...I hope you can...
I have a set of Guardian wood patio doors that came with the home I purchased 6 years ago. the outside portion is metal/vinyl. I think they are around 10 years old...maybe more.
My problem is after this winter, I am unable to open the inside slider door fully. I can get it to easily slide open maybe 6 inches. Then it's stuck. I had an issue during the winter where a relative opened the door, and when attempting to 'slam' it closed, it was caught on the in between vertical weather strip...I had to manipulate the door back and forth, and pull it towards me while sliding it closed, to get it to close fully. After finally getting it closed...
it kept getting caught on the vertical weather strip in between the 2 doors... I am opening it to spring for the first time. I think something was shifted or maybe damaged?, the door is 'looser' in the frame... I am able to push the door away from me and pull it towards me incrementally at the top of the door, where it used to be firmly sandwiched in.
I'm unsure weather the single track rail on the bottom, is bent, or if it could be 1 of the 2 rollers on the track rail?...I popped off the 2 caps at the bottom of the door and what ever it is I'm looking at- they are at different 'levels'?.. could one of them be dropped down too far, or shifted up too far to support the weight of the door?
I don't know what tool to use to try adjusting it.
Is there hope for the door, or should I just replace the whole set?
Installing a door catch on
a wood screen door
how do you install a door catch on a wood screen door?
Cole Sewell front door screen
By: Robin,
Rochester, NY
2nd owners of this house. The front door is a Cole Sewell door. the inserts is either a storm or screen.
The screen door insert at the top of the door the aluminum frame is now split. size is 27 x 68 1/2 . nothing wrong with the screen it just the frame and now not holding very well and screen is very loose/bubbles.
is there anything I can do to fix frame or where can I get a whole new screen insert?
thank you.
The first thing to do is check the local glass shops in your area. Most glass shops can build new storm door frames regardless of who made the door.
Most storm door screen frames are 1/4" thick extruded aluminum.