Storm door sagging

5 years ago

My house was built in the mid-90s, and I bought it in 2006. To my knowledge, this is the original storm door, on the front door.

Very recently (like, in the last month), I've noticed that the storm door is sagging and doesn't quite shut unless you really mess with it. The front door itself is fine and the frame is square, so it's the door itself that's started to sag.

I could probably adjust the top and left side of the frame so that they're not square but match the door, but that seems like a short term solution. The hinges are pop-riveted to the right side of the frame, though, so I'm not quite sure how to properly adjust it.

Any suggestions?

Pics are following... please ignore the spider webs and dead bugs!

This is the top right of the door, you can see that it's sagging away from the frame:

Top left of the door, so you can see how far off it is by time it reaches the frame:

Inside view of the top left (left from the outside, I mean):

The manufacturer and reg #:

The top hinge, you can see that it's riveted to the frame and screwed to the door:

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Comments (4)

Stax
5 years ago
"The front door itself is fine and the frame is square, so it's the door itself that's started to sag."

Not necessarily, and indeed not likely. The Storm Door Frame is not affixed to the same structure as the main door!
HU-178658043
5 years ago
From your pictures, I see the corner miters appear uneven, an indication that the door is failing and may need to be replaced.

Have you checked the storm door for squareness, best done at the top of the latch side with a carpenter's square. Also check the corresponding corner of the jamb, as well as ensure that the upper hinge is not pulling away from the jamb.
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millworkman
5 years ago
2nd picture, the top screw thru the stile into the top door rail looks to me to be a drywall screw indicating that the door was falling apart at least some what at some point.
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
5 years ago
Using a square on the metal frame, it IS a little off:

But looking at the hinge from the outside, you can see that the door has pulled away from the hinge a bit:

Am I right in understanding that there's no real way to adjust the door to the hinge? If not, I guess that I could unscrew the top and left side of the frame and shift it down a little to match the door. Or put a wedge / shim at the bottom of the door to make the bottom hinge match, but then it might not shut at all.

I WANTED to replace the storm door altogether, but then COVID happened and money got tight :-(