Custom storm door

I need to replace my custom storm door. It was fitted at that time ( before i bought the house ) with extra enclosures. I've shopped around and most places are asking way out of hand for a simple storm door, even if its custom made. The last quote I got was around $647.I suspect that price does not include labor. Is it possible to get a door that would fit that very enclosure? The door itself measures 32 1/2 wide to

82" in height. lowes and HD are out of the question, they insist that they have to go by the regular measure of that opening and if necessary add padded enclosures.
Reply to
Anthona
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Used to be, expanders were used to make the size adjustments. It has been years since I've been involved with doors though. One option is to add a trim strip to bring the opening down so a standard 80" door will fit. Check for a local manufacturer also. We had a bunch of them when I lived in Philadelphia. They would buy the extrusions and custom make any size you needed with only a small up charge.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

try home depot again they alweays carried special order doors for unique sizes.

ask for store manager he will likely know.

at this time of year seasonal reps arent very knowledgable:(

Reply to
hallerb

Your opening once you measure it can be adapted to fit a "standard sized" storm door far cheaper than you can buy a custom fit model.

If you are going to try and DIY post back for more info or contact a local handy-person for more information.

Colbyt

Reply to
Colbyt

Well that is where I got that $649 estimate...a small local distributor...not a manufacturer though. This is Brooklyn, NY.

Reply to
Anthona

Why not just trim out the door to the standard 80X32 with trim strips? Then go to any Box Store and buy your standard storm door to fit that opening. Simple Stupid even if you live in NYC.

RV

Reply to
Evo

u the opportunity to criticize us. What is a Box store and where does one get trim strips? I hope this is not an embarrassing question to one with such expertise. i thought this was a forum where one can ask questions.

Reply to
Anthona

A box store and a BORG are basically slam terms applied to the big old retail giants that cherry pick the top selling merchandise to sell while not stocking the harder to find stuff that we all need from time to time.

You really won't know what you need to build out the trim on the door until you take the old one down and measure the existing opening. Then you have to fire the cpu in your head and go to shopping. In most cases you can find something that will work well enough and only needs to be cut to the proper length. I am assuming you have minimal tools here. Even if you have to pay a woodworking shop to rip and cut some stuff for you, it will be lot less than the $500 difference in the price of the door.

The depth/thickness from outside to inside of the surface you need to build out can vary from 3/4" to 1 1/4" depending on what the opening was trimmed with. The actual thickness you need to build out can only be computed by subtracting the standard 32" or 36" from the measured size. You actually have a little margin because most doors sold today will work in 1/4" less width than the stated size.

To reduce the height where brick mold is the trim I have used a single piece to reduce by 2" and or double piece to reduce by 4". Depending on how you mount it you can get a decorative effect that looks quite nice. For 3/4" just use a 1x ripped to fit.and add a small piece of finish trim over the seam.

To reduce the width of the opening I have used screen molding, lattice strips, blind stop, and custom made pieces. The trim section is your shopping area. Your maximum width reduction is about 5/8" on each side or the new flange won't cover your seam

Colbyt

Reply to
Colbyt

Used to be, expanders were used to make the size adjustments. It has been years since I've been involved with doors though. One option is to add a trim strip to bring the opening down so a standard 80" door will fit. Check for a local manufacturer also. We had a bunch of them when I lived in Philadelphia. They would buy the extrusions and custom make any size you needed with only a small up charge. >>>

I found this news to me and checked it out at home depot...Yes, they do have expanders where one can enlarge the height of the door from 80" to possibley a 1 and a 1/2 at the most. I went to check my door again at home and sure enough there was an expander at the bottom.. So I probably could buy the regular 80'' door with the expander and make up some of the difference.

Reply to
Anthona

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