Doors · Service

Storm door installation, and the warranty nobody mentions

A short job with two things worth knowing first: your brickmould is probably not the same width at the top as it is at the bottom, and a full-glass storm door over a dark entry door can cook it.

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In short

What is storm door installation?

A storm door is a secondary, lightweight door fitted outside an existing entry door — glass for shelter and light, screen for ventilation. Installation means measuring the brickmould opening, mounting a Z-bar hinge rail to one side of it, hanging the door on that rail, then fitting the sweep, closers and latch. It is commonly a two to four hour job on a sound opening, and the two things that go wrong are a mis-measure and a heat-trap mismatch with the door behind it.

The job

How storm door installation actually works

Measuring the brickmould in three places

Width is measured at the top, middle and bottom of the brickmould opening, and the height on both sides. Old openings are rarely uniform. The narrowest width and the shortest height are the numbers the door has to fit.

Watch for: A single measurement taken across the middle. If the opening is a quarter-inch narrower at the bottom, a door sized to the middle will not close at the bottom, and there is no adjustment that fixes it.
Choosing the type — full-view, ventilating, or retractable screen

Full-view is glass over the whole panel, with the glass swapped seasonally or not at all. Ventilating has a fixed screen section and a sliding glass panel. Retractable-screen doors hold the screen in a cassette and roll it down when the glass is raised.

Watch for: Full-view glass in front of a dark-coloured entry door on a sunny elevation — see the heat note below. This is where the type choice stops being cosmetic.
Hanging the Z-bar on the correct side

The hinge rail — the Z-bar — is fastened to the brickmould on the hinge side, plumbed, and the door hung on it. Most modern kits are reversible so the door can be handed either way at the point of fitting.

Watch for: A storm door hinged on the opposite side to the entry door. Both doors then swing at each other and neither opens comfortably. Hinge them on the same side.
Sweep, closers and latch

The bottom sweep or expander is adjusted down to the sill so it seals without dragging, one or two hydraulic closers are fitted with the correct hold-open, and the latch and strike are set.

Watch for: A single closer on a full-glass door. Glass panels are heavy and wind catches them; two closers, or one plus a wind chain, is what stops the door being torn off its top hinge on a gusty day.
Weather sealing at the head and sides — and not at the sill

The top rail and the hinge side get sealed against the brickmould. The bottom is deliberately left to drain.

Watch for: Sealant run right around including along the bottom. Water that gets between the two doors then has nowhere to go, and it sits against the entry door's threshold.

Money

What does storm door installation cost?

Storm door installation is a small job — the door itself is usually a few hundred dollars and professional labour commonly falls in the $250 to $450 range, more if the brickmould needs repair or building out first. Fitting one alongside an entry door replacement usually avoids a second trip charge.

See the full storm door installation cost guide — by material, size and region →

Straight answer

When storm door installation is the wrong call

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

Your entry door is dark-coloured and the elevation gets strong sun. A full-glass storm door traps solar heat in the gap between the two doors. Manufacturers of fiberglass and steel entry doors put limits on this in their warranty fine print, and heat build-up can warp or blister a finish. Check the entry door's warranty first, or choose a ventilating type.
The brickmould is rotten or has been built out with packers. The Z-bar has to fasten into sound material along its full length. Fix the trim first — otherwise the screws pull and the door sags within a season.
You are replacing the entry door within the year. Do them together. The measure, the trip and often the trim work are shared, and a storm door sized to the old opening may not fit the new one.
The entry door swings outward. There is nowhere for a storm door to go. This is a genuine dead end rather than a workaround.
You mainly want the draught to stop. A storm door is not a draught fix. If air is moving past the entry door, the seal, threshold or squareness of that door is the problem, and a second door in front of it just hides it.
You want security from it. A standard storm door is a light aluminium frame with glass. If the goal is resisting entry, that is a security door, which is a different product entirely.

Straight answer

Can I do this myself?

Reasonable to DIY

Measuring the brickmould opening at three widths and two heights, and recording the smallest of each
Fitting a pre-hung storm door kit into a sound, square, correctly sized opening — the published manufacturer instructions are genuinely good
Adjusting the bottom sweep, closer speed and hold-open detent
Swapping seasonal glass and screen inserts

Call a licensed pro

Any opening where the brickmould is rotten, missing, or narrower than the smallest available door
Openings that need the Z-bar cut and refitted because the height is non-standard
Masonry or stone surrounds, where fastening is a drilling job rather than a screwing job
Anything you want done at the same time as an entry door replacement, where the two need to be measured as one

Before you sign

What to check when hiring for storm door installation

Did you measure the brickmould at three widths, and which number are you ordering to?

The narrowest one. If the answer is a single measurement, expect a door that binds at one end.
Which way will it hinge, and does that match my entry door?

Same side as the entry door, always. Getting it wrong makes both doors awkward and cannot be fixed without redrilling the brickmould.
Is the glass type compatible with the warranty on my entry door?

The solar heat-trap issue. Ask the installer to look at the entry door's colour, material and orientation before recommending a full-glass panel.
How many closers are included, and is a wind chain fitted?

Wind is what destroys storm doors. Two closers or a chain is cheap insurance and is routinely left off the base specification.
Does the brickmould need repair before the Z-bar goes on?

Should be answered at the measure, not on fitting day. Trim repair is a small job in advance and an annoying surprise on the morning.
If I am also replacing the entry door, can both be done on one visit?

The trip charge, the measure and often the trim work are shared. Doing them separately is paying twice for the same setup.

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Related work

Often done at the same time

Entry Door Replacement

Do both on one visit and one measure

Door Repair

If the draught is the entry door, not the storm door

Security Door Installation

When you want resistance, not shelter

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Go deeper

Guides & terms

Guides

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Terms on this page

Threshold

Full doors glossary →

FAQ

Storm Door Installation — questions people ask

Still have a question? Talk to our team →

Can a storm door damage my entry door?

It can, and this is the part sellers rarely lead with. A full-glass storm door creates a sealed air gap in front of the entry door; on a sunny elevation, over a dark-coloured steel or fiberglass door, the temperature in that gap climbs enough to blister finishes and distort panels. Entry door manufacturers address this in their warranty terms, and some limit or exclude cover where a full-glass storm door is fitted. Check your entry door's warranty wording before choosing the glass type — a ventilating door with a screen section usually sidesteps the problem.

How long does storm door installation take?

On a sound, correctly sized opening, commonly two to four hours including measuring, cutting the Z-bar to height, hanging, and setting the sweep and closers. It stretches when the brickmould needs repair, when the opening is a non-standard size, or when the surround is masonry and everything has to be drilled.

How do I measure for a storm door?

Measure the width of the brickmould opening at the top, middle and bottom, and the height on the left and right. Use the smallest width and the shortest height — an opening that is square is the exception, not the rule. Storm doors come in a small number of standard sizes with a range of adjustment, so those two numbers tell you which size to buy and whether the opening needs building out first.

Which side should the storm door hinge on?

The same side as your entry door. If they are hinged on opposite sides, the two doors swing toward each other and you have to close one to open the other, which is intolerable at a front entrance carrying shopping. Most kits are reversible, so this is decided on fitting day — make sure the installer is looking at your entry door when they decide.

Is a storm door worth it?

It depends on what you want from it. As shelter for the entry door and the person standing at it, and as a way of getting a screened opening in mild weather, it earns its keep. As an energy measure, expect modest gains — a storm door mostly reduces air movement past a door that is already sealed reasonably, so it does far less on a well-fitted entry door than on a poor one. If the entry door itself leaks, fix that first.