storm doors?

[mtemm]

we have a storm door but part of the door jamb broke off last winter (the part that the arm attaches to) and we can't figure out how to fix it/can't afford to pay someone to fix it so we are considering just leaving the storm door off this winter.

my question is do storm doors help insulate your house much? I've assumed they were just nice to have because you can open your regular door in winter and let light into the house, but am wondering if our heating bill is going to skyrocket if we don't figure out how to get it attached.

 

[golfgal]

Can you take a picture of the damage and maybe someone here can suggest a way to fix it. We had something similar happen and we (well my Dad) cut out an area that was about 6" larger then the damaged part, used a chisel to square it off and screwed in a piece of wood that was the same thickness of the chiseled out part (1/4" or so) and we caulked and painted. You couldn't tell there was anything out of the ordinary.

 

[Octoberbride03]

What kind of inner door do you have?

If you have a steel door then you don't need the storm door at all. but if you have a wooden 1 then the storm door protects that from the elements and adds a bit more insulation. But i don't think it really adds all that much.

Growing up in PA we never left the inner door open in the winter just to have light shine through the storm door. Would have been a waste of heat. Always left the back door open in the summer though with the screen in. Nice and airy.