Opinion Question: Remove the storm door?

[phil]

did these old screen doors usually have their own frame or did they share the same frame the door uses? did they have glass? I'm thinking they usually shared the door frame that already existed and they didn't lock except for maybe a wire latch, they didn't have glass, just a screen. would there normally have been some sort of wood strip that came with the door for it to close against?

I'm guessing that the whole idea of putting glass in a screen door came around when they started in about the 50's with the common aluminum ones. I'm imagining the old wood ones like that nice red one were only ever screen doors and not intended as insulating doors at all, also I don't think any sort of closer is original , just spring loaded hinges. Am I right?

[JRC]

did these old screen doors usually have their own frame or did they share the same frame the door uses? did they have glass? I'm thinking they usually shared the door frame that already existed and they didn't lock except for maybe a wire latch, they didn't have glass, just a screen. would there normally have been some sort of wood strip that came with the door for it to close against?

I'm guessing that the whole idea of putting glass in a screen door came around when they started in about the 50's with the common aluminum ones. I'm imagining the old wood ones like that nice red one were only ever screen doors and not intended as insulating doors at all, also I don't think any sort of closer is original , just spring loaded hinges. Am I right?

The screen/storm doors in my mom's old house were just like the red example posted earlier. The screen and glass were interchangeable. (although it looks like the glass in the above example didn't original fit that door, as there are fillers on the sides of the glass frame) The door was mounted within the door casing, and closed against the blind stop, similar to how a wood storm window works. I don't think they locked, but they did have a door knob and the strike plate mounted to the door casing. I think the hinges were usually butt hinges. (they were at my mom's house, and there are cutouts for butt hinges in the door casings at my current house) But, I know spring loaded butterfly hinges were also common.

[Don M]

Yes the screen/storm combos were as described above but ours had a knob with an inside lock so the knob couldn't be turned from the outside; it was a thumb slide built into the latch mechanism. There was a strong spring that closed the door, no pneumatic closer like we use today. Our KY house had the screen/storm combos used to enclose the breezeway between the house & garage permanently installed.

[Vined Porch]

Hope this works!
Anyway this is our storm/screen door ,the inner glazed section is removable and there is a framed screen that replaces it ( currently in the basement for winter) hopefully the second photo shows the inner handle and latch system that holds the window in.
It is also on our long list of things to do next year,just needs new glazing putty as the glass is in very good condition

[Vined Porch]

Oops..I guess the second photo is actually the first photo! Uh-Oh and they are sideways on my desktop but right way on my Ipad..no idea how to correct that-my apologies.

[phil]

the only screen door I have is a victorian one. It never had a knob and it never had glass. there is a slot around where the edges of the screen were captive. over that there was some thin wood strips to cover the edges and hide the staples that held the screen. Maybe an earlier screen had a strip to hold it captive in the slot. I think it would be a nice project to make up some repros of the one Vined Porch just posted. they are quite rare and any modern takes on "repro" that I have seen are just too new looking to not look out of place. The one Casey made looks nice. Someone could crank these out pretty fast with a CNC router table, especially the craftsman ones with out the victorianish doo dads

I guess the spring loaded hinges are fine for ones without glass and they only need to be 3/4" thick, but once you go to putting glass in there you probably need a bit more substantial door probably 1.5" thick and you wouldn't want the glass door to be spring loaded and it kind of needs something to stop the wind from catching it and breaking the glass. The more substantial door would be more practical these days as most want the added security.

[eclecticcottage]

I have one like Vined Porch, and one that has what looks like screw heads set into the door that you turn and a little metal latch/catch comes out and grabs something in the screen or glass part. There are various methods that all seem original that I've seen on these. And I have yet to find a screen or glass insert that will fit any door other than the one it came with, which has been quite frustrating when finding only part of the set. I'm sure it happens, but it hasn't happened to me yet!

I have self closing hinges on the one on my back door and standard ones on the front.

[Don M]

I have one like Vined Porch, and one that has what looks like screw heads set into the door that you turn and a little metal latch/catch comes out and grabs something in the screen or glass part. There are various methods that all seem original that I've seen on these. And I have yet to find a screen or glass insert that will fit any door other than the one it came with, which has been quite frustrating when finding only part of the set. I'm sure it happens, but it hasn't happened to me yet!

I have self closing hinges on the one on my back door and standard ones on the front.

I have two storm/screen combos that have a colonial cross buck design below that matches my dutch doors. The screen & storm inserts have the screw head design you described. They are all wood and very well built. My front door had the same door probably all three were installed in 1964 when the whole house had a major renovation. The PO had a nice full view wood storm door built that has a removable Plexiglas insert. I made a screen insert to fit it. It's very nice and the view of the original front door can bee easily seen.