Wooden storm door project

[Joe Cowan]

I want to build a storm door to match my exterior door that is mostly glass. The top and bottom rails would have to be roughly 8" wide and the styles would be roughly 6". I also want to make the glass removable so I can put a screen panel in during the fall and spring. Just wondering if anyone has built such a door and could offer any advice. I assume QS wood would be the best to avoid possible warp issues. Any thoughts appreciated.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Oak and glass will make for a heavy door. ..Not necessarily a bad thing but something to keep in mind when it comes to hinges and movability.

[Joe Cowan]

Oak and glass will make for a heavy door. ..Not necessarily a bad thing but something to keep in mind when it comes to hinges and compliance, especially when you have your arms full.

I got in touch with a company several years ago, that made a convertible glass/screen storm door and they told me they recommended red oak as the wood. I was surprised as I thought it would be very heavy, especially with the glass inserted seasonally.

[Al Launier]

This might be relevant when determining what wood to use for an exterior door.

From the Internet:

• Red oak is a porous, open-grained hardwood which should not be used for outdoor furniture and should only be used for interior pieces such as wood flooring, cabinets, indoor furniture, etc. It has an open structure and the small open capillary tubes can suck in moisture and draw it up several inches into the wood. This open structure make it readily subject to moisture infiltration. Once wet it is hard to dry the lumber and this makes it a victim of rapid decay. Although it has tannin, being wet for long periods make it a victim of fungus and bacterial attack.
  
• This tendency to rot is diminished when the wood is pressure treated. It readily absorbs the treatment because of its open structure. Pressure treated red oak has been used as fence posts and railroad ties and as construction lumber.
  
• It is sometimes possible to see the fairly large pores of the wood.
  
• Red Oak is not very dimensionally stable and will shrink quite a lot.
  
• Because it reacts with iron, screws and other fasteners often stain the wood.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

So I am considering something similar, except that I am looking at doing a pure screen door.

Right now I am looking at using Sapele.

[Joe Cowan]

This might be relevant when determining what wood to use for an exterior door.

From the Internet:

• Red oak is a porous, open-grained hardwood which should not be used for outdoor furniture and should only be used for interior pieces such as wood flooring, cabinets, indoor furniture, etc. It has an open structure and the small open capillary tubes can suck in moisture and draw it up several inches into the wood. This open structure make it readily subject to moisture infiltration. Once wet it is hard to dry the lumber and this makes it a victim of rapid decay. Although it has tannin, being wet for long periods make it a victim of fungus and bacterial attack.
  
• This tendency to rot is diminished when the wood is pressure treated. It readily absorbs the treatment because of its open structure. Pressure treated red oak has been used as fence posts and railroad ties and as construction lumber.
  
• It is sometimes possible to see the fairly large pores of the wood.
  
• Red Oak is not very dimensionally stable and will shrink quite a lot.
  
• Because it reacts with iron, screws and other fasteners often stain the wood.

Forgot to mention, this door will never get direct rain unless in a hurricane situation and then very little. However, I will not use red oak.

[Lee Schierer]

You need to insure that the glass in your new door is tempered glass. Code requires that glass in doors be tempered for safety. You will need to special order the piece of glass cut to size as you cannot cut tempered glass.

[Jay Michaels]

I'd use mahogany.

And yes; the glass in a door like that must be tempered.

[Bruce Wrenn]

For the frame, look at both SYP, and cypress. Over at NC woodworker is a guy (Ivey in Burgaw) not far from you who cuts cypress. Make a sub frame to hold glass. For the screen, make similar frame, which would hold screen, also from wood.

[Joe Cowan]

For the frame, look at both SYP, and cypress. Over at NC woodworker is a guy (Ivey in Burgaw) not far from you who cuts cypress. Make a sub frame to hold glass. For the screen, make similar frame, which would hold screen, also from wood.

I have plenty of 2" cypress but it is very soft wood, and I wondered if that would be a problem over time. I also was considering buying 2x10 SYP and cutting the center out and gluing back the QS sides together, to make the rails and styles.

[mark mcfarlane]

You need to insure that the glass in your new door is tempered glass. Code requires that glass in doors be tempered for safety. You will need to special order the piece of glass cut to size as you cannot cut tempered glass.

I am one of the statistics that lead to the tempered glass code. I fell through a storm door when I was 5 years old. Running outside to play, and slipped on a rug in front of the door. Nearly bled out, but had an awesome show-and-tell at kindergarten the day before they removed my stitches.

I'm also one of the statistics for why we now have double insulated oven doors, and why McDonalds doesn't have those large snoot-nosed metal garbage cans next to the drive through, and several others.

My parents said I was an accident looking for a place to happen.

[Mel Fulks]

The soft type of cypress is only rated "moderate" for weather resistance. The heart stuff looks very different and has a much higher rating.

[Mark Bolton]

Late to this one but do you have ventilation considered in the storm door? I only ask because there have been numerous issues in the entry door world over the years with full view glass storm doors which are even only exposed to short bursts of direct sun creating a super hot condition in the space between the storm and the entry door. Your entry door being glass may negate that a bit given the thermal inefficiency.

I would be very concerned with how a glass paneled storm door (thin) would react even over a glass paneled exterior door when one face of the storm gets very hot/dry while the outer face is cool/cold

Many of the newer high end aluminum framed storms incorporate ventilation to allow the the captured heat between the storm and the exterior door to escape. Its seems storm doors in general are no longer really an issue of heating savings as they were in the past but are more so an issue of habbit and a means to hold a screen for people who like to keep their doors open in the times of moderate temps throughout the year. Much of the motivation for venting the space between the storms and door has been because the extreme heat as well as UV magnification can actually kill the exterior finish on the entry door. We have seen several types of paint from latex, to oils, to automotive finishes, to clears, literally cooked right off the main door when a full view glass door is installed.

[Joe Cowan]

This door will be covered and not exposed to direct sunlight or rain so I doubt I would need to ventilate it.

[Mark Bolton]

So is the desire for a storm door to hold a screen? Or to save heat? Or just because you'd like to have one because you always have? Im personally a fan of screen doors in the months they work. In that case I would have a screen door with a pair of drop-on hinges that I put on when it works, and store when not need. If your exterior door is sound and modern-ish the addition of a storm door is likely of little advantage with regards to efficiency and heating and cooling. In a completely sheltered (sun, wind, rain) I guess a storm door could increase the longevity of your exterior door finish.


Its an interesting situation.