How to Fix a Broken Storm Door
At the very best, a sagging door will fit poorly, let in chilly drafts and fail to do the job for which it was designed. At the worst, a poor-fitting door will fail to latch and become vulnerable to strong winds. One good gust can rip the door open and tear it right off its hinges.
An early symptom of door sagging is sticking and rubbing, usually along the bottom of the door, out near the ”latch edge” (the edge of the door with a latch, as opposed to the ”hinge edge”).
As the sag progresses, rubbing may also begin up high on the latch edge of the door.
Eventually, the door will sag so far it won’t close, or the latch will no longer align and engage properly.
The fix for sagging depends upon the type of door you have. Most doors, including both wood and aluminum types, respond well to a turnbuckle storm door brace.
This is essentially a pair of metal rods joined together at the center with a turnbuckle. You should be able to buy one at any hardware store.
You install this brace on the inside of the door. Install it running diagonally from the lower latch edge of the door up toward the upper hinge edge.
The exact position isn’t critical, so try to put the brace where it looks best and where it won’t interfere with the door closer or with the seasonal task of changing from screen to glass inserts and back.
When you decide on a location, fasten each end of the brace to the door, with the screws provided. Then, start to tighten the turnbuckle. This will shorten the brace and pull the sag out of the door. Do this slowly, about a half-turn at a time, and check the fit of the door as you go.
However, turnbuckle braces aren’t right for all doors.
In my particular case, I have a wooden door with interchangeable glass and screen inserts that run nearly the full length of the door. If I put a turnbuckle brace on this door, it would always show from outdoors, and it would get in the way of changing the inserts.
So I tried a different fix that has worked fine. First I cut a pair of L-shaped gussets out of half-inch plywood, to reinforce the joints at each lower corner of the door. Size and shape of these needn’t be exact. Just make sure they set back an inch or so from the edges of the door, so they don’t interfere with its fit.
Next, I opened the door a few inches, put a fulcrum made from a block of wood on the threshold, and used a length of 1-by-3 as a lever to pry up the door. This lifted the sag out of the door.
Holding the lever down with my foot, I then screwed on the two gussets, one at the lower corner of the latch edge as shown, the other at the lower corner of the hinge edge. Both the gussets go on the inside face of the door.
Once the gussets were in place, I removed the lever; the reinforced door held its position.
I filled over the screwheads with polyester auto body filler, painted the gussets to match the door – and they essentially disappeared.
