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This was the very first time we've done one of these. I got a call from a potential customer who had made the rounds to all of the box stores and was frustrated to say the least. He explained that he had a wood circle top storm door that had blown off of his house and basically got destroyed. He wanted an aluminum storm to replace it, could I help him?
I had to admit, that I had never seen shaped aluminum storm doors, just wood. He explained that he found a company in Ohio (ArchAngle) that did them, but they wouldn't sell directly to home owners, and they had no recommendations or contractors in this area.
After doing some research and talking with the good folks at ArchAngle, it was obviously a no brainer to try and help him. They were wonderful to work with, VERY patient with my many questions and basically, held our collective hands through this first purchase and install.
Ok, here's what we started with....
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You can see that the brickmold is pretty chewed up and extremely irregular....
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So, we made new BM in our mill shop first and replaced it. The customer painted it then we measured again for the storm door to be made to fit our new BM. With a shaped top storm door, there are three critical measurements. Obviously the height and width, with the third being what's called the spring line. It's the point where the straight side first starts it's radius.
Fortunately, we got the BM just right because the spring line needs to be almost exact for the door to seat and seal properly. It can be off a tiny bit and covered by the Z-Bar, but we had to get the BM spring line right and got it to within 1/32". The other issue which we couldn't help much with was the various jamb thickness on each side of the door, but that didn't really matter as long as our BM was thick enough to account for the Z-Bar, which it was of course....
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I didn't get any pics of the crating or packing, but suffice it to say, it was top shelf all the way. The unit comes in a custom crate built out of 2" x 4" framing with 7/16" OSB on the front and back, with 2" x 4" dividers to keep all hardware, mounting accessories and in this case matching caulk for the BM - away from the door and glass. The door itself and the glass, were each wrapped extensively in heavy duty bubble wrap.
Unpacked and double checking all measurements....
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Now, the first time installing one of these was a bit of an adventure. But a couple of quick phone calls between me, the engineering department at Archangle and my installer, and they were able to steer us in the right direction. Again, I can't say enough about how willing they were to help us through this first install.
Ok, all done and the customers were ecstatic!
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For a slight up-charge, we went with the upgraded hardware. I'm glad we did. It's very nice for the modest price.
![]()
I'm hoping this can become another niche for us. I've already sold two more and quoted a third. :thumbsup:
I had to admit, that I had never seen shaped aluminum storm doors, just wood. He explained that he found a company in Ohio (ArchAngle) that did them, but they wouldn't sell directly to home owners, and they had no recommendations or contractors in this area.
After doing some research and talking with the good folks at ArchAngle, it was obviously a no brainer to try and help him. They were wonderful to work with, VERY patient with my many questions and basically, held our collective hands through this first purchase and install.
Ok, here's what we started with....
You can see that the brickmold is pretty chewed up and extremely irregular....
So, we made new BM in our mill shop first and replaced it. The customer painted it then we measured again for the storm door to be made to fit our new BM. With a shaped top storm door, there are three critical measurements. Obviously the height and width, with the third being what's called the spring line. It's the point where the straight side first starts it's radius.
Fortunately, we got the BM just right because the spring line needs to be almost exact for the door to seat and seal properly. It can be off a tiny bit and covered by the Z-Bar, but we had to get the BM spring line right and got it to within 1/32". The other issue which we couldn't help much with was the various jamb thickness on each side of the door, but that didn't really matter as long as our BM was thick enough to account for the Z-Bar, which it was of course....
I didn't get any pics of the crating or packing, but suffice it to say, it was top shelf all the way. The unit comes in a custom crate built out of 2" x 4" framing with 7/16" OSB on the front and back, with 2" x 4" dividers to keep all hardware, mounting accessories and in this case matching caulk for the BM - away from the door and glass. The door itself and the glass, were each wrapped extensively in heavy duty bubble wrap.
Unpacked and double checking all measurements....
Now, the first time installing one of these was a bit of an adventure. But a couple of quick phone calls between me, the engineering department at Archangle and my installer, and they were able to steer us in the right direction. Again, I can't say enough about how willing they were to help us through this first install.
Ok, all done and the customers were ecstatic!
For a slight up-charge, we went with the upgraded hardware. I'm glad we did. It's very nice for the modest price.
I'm hoping this can become another niche for us. I've already sold two more and quoted a third. :thumbsup:
