Hey, what’s with that flimsy extra door that’s right in front of your front or rear doors? The one that’s got a screen in it (or was that glass, or both, or neither?). That often ugly door that visually blocks your front door’s curb appeal, making your investment in a good-looking front door seem pretty silly. That door that either doesn’t close all the way or closes way too fast, giving you an undignified public spanking whenever you enter your house.
They call it a “storm door,” although what it has to do with a “storm” is anyone’s guess. How could it be of any use in a storm? Is this your front door’s equivalent of slipping-on a windbreaker? Or maybe the storm door is a vestige from the days when houses used to have storm windows, before double-paned glass on windows made storm windows obsolete. Is it possible that similar technological advances indoor construction and weather stripping have made storm doors obsolete, but storm door companies have no particular interest in telling us that?
Do you really need a storm door? Honestly, in all our years in business we can only recall ONE request for a storm door where one did not previously exist, and even then it was a townhouse where adjacent units had one. A case of storm door envy? In every other case, it’s all been about repairing or replacing a storm door that was already in place.
But, let’s give the storm door industry its due and brain-storm all the reasons you might actually want a storm door:
- Maybe it’s because they provide an extra layer of protection from wind, rain, and snow from penetrating your front door, especially if you don’t have a porch roof above it.
- Maybe people like them because they keep pets from running out (or jumping on your friendly handyman!) when you’re talking to someone at your front door. A handy feature, but clearly not the reason they were invented, or they would have named them something like “Fido Doors”.
- And maybe people like them because they let in a lot of fresh air, particularly when you’re running a whole house fan. They do provide a larger opening for fresh air than windows. Some people may even like the way they let in sunlight to a normally dark section of their house.
So for those of you who find the above arguments for storm doors compelling, bully for you. You know who to call to repair or replace them. Oh, that would be us, Fix St Louis.
But for those of you who view your storm doors as more of a nuisance, we bring you good news. Our skilled technicians regularly perform storm-door-ectomies, in which we not only unfasten, detach, and haul away old storm doors, we also restore whatever holes, mortises, cracks or unpainted-areas are left behind, so no one would ever suspect you even had a storm door there.
OK, inviting us over to your house to repair, remove, or replace a storm door may not be the most exciting thing to happen to you that day. But it sure beats a smart whack in the backside from a storm door.
Dr Steve
Fix St Louis
314-434-4100