UV Protection for a West facing door

[Gary Herrmann]

About 7 or 8 years ago I put new exterior doors on my house. As I was rewiring my doorbell yesterday, I noticed that the fiberglass door in the front is delaminating (its the old kind of soft fiberglass door - not the kind with the harder skin I've seen recently). It faces due West and gets blasted in the Summer - especially since I took down a huge Sweetgum tree a few years back.

I've got a storm door there as well. I need to replace the fiberglass door, and am willing to replace the stormdoor as well if I can put something more UV resistant in its place.

I know a steel door and a stormdoor up front isn't a good idea. The metal door would get incredibly hot. Have any of you heard of a good solution to a situation like this? Would a UV film make a big difference or is UV resistant glass in a storm door a better way to go? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[Mike Tempel]

I am not an expert on door choices by any means but if you can't find what you are looking for I would suggest replacing the storm door with one that has UV protection. On top of that I recommend a solar screen on the storm door as well. In my old house we had a storm door with the solar screen (90% protection) and not only did I not have to worry about damaging UV rays the extra screen will provide some additional heat protection from the summer sun. Every window on my current house has a solar screen and it helps keep the electric bill somewhat in check in our hot Houston summers, springs, falls, and yes - sometimes in the winter too.
You can get solar screens in some different shades/colors and can have the frame built to mimic the colonial style panes on your windows if so desired. I did this on the front of my house and it really added to the visual appeal instead of making it look like a house with a bunch of square black holes all over it.

The picture may not be of the greatest quality but this may help you understand what I am talking about.