Storm Door Out of Alignment

[jeffy3]

We had a pella full-view storm door installed 18 months ago and for the last several months it seems to be out of alignment. The rubber strip on the bottom is rubbing the cement step and is starting to fall off, and in order for the door to close all the way it needs to be pulled shut. On the upper right corner (opposite of the hinges) there seems to be a gap with light peeking through. The Pella website says to call a technician with such problems but I was wondering if anyone here had any suggestions.

[jeffy3]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I can lift it up into alignment. What does that mean?

[Amun]

Something has shifted, either the door frame itself, or the wall.

Most often the mounting screws in the hinged side of the door work a bit loose, and have to be tightened.

Can you lift the door and move it by hand ? that will give you a clue.

More often than not, some kiddies were hanging on the handle and slightly twisted things, as those doors are all fairly flimsy due to their nature. And a lot of times all that is required is a pry bar under the low part and "bending" it back up.

You just have to examine it yourself to see what's moved.

[Amun]

It means that something is moving /giving, move the door and watch to see where the "play" is

Hinges? Mounting screws? Door jamb ?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Probably something loose. Check to see that the hinges are screwed in tightly.

[Dave]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1125417072.063480.131800 @g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

There was an interesting segment of Ask This Old House several months ago about this problem. What happens is that the door becomes out of square. The way they fixed it was to fix the door so it stays open, loosen all the screws on the door corners, drive a wedge under the door frame until the door is square again, then tighten all the screws again. You have to build up a platform for the wedge to fit under the door while it is open out of scrape wood or other stuff so that the thin end of the wedge will just barely fit.

If your door has glass panels that slide up or down, move the panels so the glass panels are closed. (Does that make sense?)

Hope this helps.

Dave