Storm Door makes latching interior door difficult

Mar 08, 2017 2 Replies
B

I never had storm doors on my house. I just weatherstripped the regular door well. But even with weatherstripping, I always got a little water coming in under the door from rain storms. A recent severe storm with high winds, caused more than a "little" water to get in. I had a puddle inside the door.



Yesterday I bought and installed an aluminum storm door on my front door (which was the one that leaked water).



The storm door works well, but it's now very hard to get the regular door to latch, because of the air between the doors. And there is a 1/4" gap under the storm door, which I planned to buy some sort of strip to cover it, but now I think that gap is needed so the air pressure can escape.



Is there any fix for this?



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F

Unless you are closing the door rapidly, resistance should be low. Maybe you got the frame slightly out of alignment and latch opening needs to be enlarged. I see resistance to closing my door when screen is taken out and glass is installed but it is not that much.

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E

The bottom of the door should have a sweep that barely touches the threshold when close. It is an aluminum strip with a rubber insert.

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As for the closing, be gentle. If you have to, close the door within a half inch or so, Stop for a second, then close it. If you try to close it too fast you get some resistance. Years ago I installed storm doors part time. If things fit well you cannot slam the door closed.

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