Pet-friendly storm door at last!
The old storm door was a good example of why, sometimes, it’s better NOT to DIY.
This piece of work was here when we got here. I’m thinking no self-respecting installer put this door in. Note the gap. Note the bracket, our attempt to keep the door from falling apart before we could replace it. Can you just hear the slamming? Because that’s what poorly mounted storm doors do no matter how much you tinker with them. And, of course, the gap, well you can just about feel the heat getting sucked right through it, can’t you?
And then there was the issue of the pets. Well, one pet, really. Smokey, the Basenji mix whose mission in life is minding the squirrels out back. Smokey arrived just after I had painstakingly replaced the screen (although, you might wonder why I bothered since the mosquitoes could fit a mack truck through that gap at the top) and she promptly tried to go through it (not shown here). Sigh.
So, cut to the chase (not the squirrel chase) and, ta-da! New storm door. A Larson Wood-Core Series Retractable Screen Storm Door. A beauty. Ever fall in love with a door? 
I’m in love with this door. It’s solid, it closes like a dream (because the installer did a beautiful job) AND there is no screen at the bottom for a pet to poke her nose through (or to crash through unthinkingly in pursuit of the perfect chase). The screen’s on top. The retractable screen.
Who knew they made such things? When you need fresh air, you pull the top window down and the screen follows. When you’re done, you pull the window back up and the screen tucks away leaving you nothing but the view. So, yes, we expect a few dog nose prints on the bottom glass, but no torn screens, and we like this door so much we’re ordering another install — same thing for the front entrance — and between the two I think we’ll see an impact on our heating/cooling bills, as well.
