Hello everyone,
I have taken on a small refinishing job, and have run into a dilemma that I am not familiar with and I could use some help. The front door of the house has had a storm door with a full glass placed in front of it. The door is the original wood door with some glass on top. The house is south facing, so the door receives sun all day. The temperature between the front door and the glass storm door is extremely high when the sun is out, ( I have neglected to measure it ) and the paint that has been applied, which was latex, is now beginning to crack and deform. This is also beginning to effect the rear of the door inside the house. That said, my question is how can I keep the look and integrity of the door while dissipating enough heat to stop the paint from doing what it is doing. Also would it be advisable to use oil base paint and a good primer instead of latex products.
Thank you in advance to all who lend some advice…
Socrates…
Replies
Any time you have a storm door that can get full sun you need to provide some sort of ventillation to keep heat from destroying the door.
Hello everyone,
I Thank you for your quick responses to my High Heat Situation, storm door dilemma. I am aware of the need to ventilate and I like the suggestions, very informative. In your opinions, would it be more advisable to ventilate the storm door, or is it OK to ventilate the Wooden front door at the top and bottom, and possibly use the heat which is created from this situation inside the house for Fall/Winter/Spring use. If so does anyone have suggestions for doing this. Summer will remain the problem unless I remove the glass and replace it with a screen. It seems that the amount of work involved to remove the storm door and make the alterations is maddening. Plus I wasn't the installer. If I was, I already know not to create a greenhouse effect on a south face and would have suggested the proper door (ventilated) in the first place. I also don't have direct access to any of the parts I might need being that this is a custom door. I also like the suggestion to use auto paint for the heat on the wooden door, very nice...
Again if their are any additional suggestions to this problem I am all ears... Please Keep them coming...
Also if their is any information about the doors I might have missed, which will aid you in responding to this question please ask me...
Thanks again in advance
SocratesSocraties
Ventilation is vital. If it's so hot you're burning off the paint, even doing damage through the insulation of the door, you have to get the heat out.
Do you really make use of a storm door? It seems to be doing more harm than good.
The door can be stripped and painted with automobile paint by an auto body shop. Those paints should hold up to fairly high heat. Choose a light color.
There are some storms made with thermostatically-controlled vents.
Automotive paint can be sprayed with any decent sprayer. A booth is nice, but hardly critical. Just gotta pick your spray conditions carefully.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Pull the storm door and its jambs off the door opening. Remove the bottom sweep of the storm door. Rehang the storm door so the bottom of the door is 1/4-1/2" off the threshold. Do not reinstall the sweep. You should have a gap at the top between the storm door and head jamb. Cooler (more dense) air will flow from the bottom and displace the warmer air as it leaves the top. I can't say how effective this is, as I've never needed to do it, but it's the plan I have if the situation requires it and the client can't afford a higher end thermostatically vented storm door.
Good luck.
BTW, relocating the door will require relocating strike plates, etc. But you'd'a figured that out first time you tried to close it.
No good your way.
Keep the space at the TOP(approx 1/4" gap.
Under normal gravity circumstances,heat rises,it does not fall. Keep the gap at the TOP.
I intended to lower the door to setup gaps at the top and bottom, to set up a natural circulation. Heat rises and is diplaced by cooler air. Most storm doors are installed as tight as we (I) can make them, so there is no air circulation. Even with a gap at the top, what's going to displace the heated air? Gap top and bottom will allow air to circulate. As I said, I don't kow how effective it is, but it' got to be better than nothing. Most installs have the gap at the top almost minimal anyway, 1/8-1/4". Lowering the door should open this gap, removing the sweep will gap the bottom.
Makes sense to me, anyway, which may not be saying much.
edit, grammarical error
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Edited 10/31/2004 4:37 pm ET by NickNuke'em