storm doors

[George P.]

landlords, what do you do with storm doors? keep them? take them off?

i kept them on the last house and while they were moving, the rear door fell off and almost hit the mover. it bent the corner of the door and after i installed it, the corner prevents it from locking. now the tenant wants a new storm door since the house would be "secure".

i used that door for 2 months without a problem and they moved in and now i have to replace the door. it's ugly without a storm door, but at least it would not break anymore.

on this new house i am just listing, there won't be a storm door.

so, you keep them? take them off before it's rented? repair them?

[David Krulac]

George P.

No sure about "ghetto" comment. All of the brand new developments, even the higher priced spreads usually don't have storm doors.

If we are selling and the storm door is there and looks decent, it stays. If the door is old and beat up, it is removed. we haven't bought a storm door in about 5 years. That one was destroyed by a tenant and the hinges were ripped in half. That is tenant is now gone, but the new tenant is not getting a storm door.

If you have a quality entrance door, then a storm door is not really needed. Storm door were made popular particularly in alumimum after WW2. Before that houses had storm doors or even screen only doors made of wood. But the main doors were not weather stripped as today and often leaked heat and cold. There were even hollow core exterior doors, very inefficient.

Today's exterior steel, and vinyl doors are much better with energy, insulation and weather stripping, therefore no need for storm doors.