adding a storm door

Joyce
by Joyce
We have a solid (no windows) metal (builders grade) front door that is in direct sun all afternoon & it gets very hot. We would like to add a storm door. I am concerned about the heat factor but would like to have the extra warmth in the winter. Is this a good idea?
  3 answers
  • No not a good idea. If you have a metal door and its most likely filled with foam core. The foam will heat up even more and cause the door to warp. While its nice to have the storm door so you protect the main door from the elements, its not necessary to use it for extra protection against the outside temps. However you can check with the manufacture of the door, you would find this on the door edge where the hinges fasten, and they can tell you if there is a concern for this or not. I know that Anderson doors found at the Home Depot will not warrant their doors if a storm door is installed. This is not to say you cannot do this. I have seen this many times done successfully. But if you do get a lot of heat from the sun on the door I would suggest against it. It becomes even worse if the door is painted a dark color.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Jan 17, 2012
    This type of combination basically mimics a hot air solar collector...but there is no air flow...this can bring the space between the main door and storm door into temps of 150 to 180 degrees. If you are home 100% of the time and can "manually" control the temps by opening the main door when its sunny and closing it when its cloudy then you could then moderate these temps and get some solar gain into your home.
  • Sally Nichols Sally Nichols on Oct 17, 2015
    I have had the same metal front door for 23 years now that is exposed to the hot sun. I have always painted it with an accent color to enhance the front of the house. Your house color in the pic appears to be blue. I think either a sunny yellow (especially if you're going to add a white storm door to tone it down) or a pretty purple would be nice.