# Screen door won't reach door jamb



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Is there brick moulding around the door opening?
If you where to remove the door and add a strip of 1/4" lattice to each side, adjust the head pieces if need be (cut it) and reinstalled the door making sure to drill pilot holes for the screws that would give you the 1/2 you need without the unsightly block of wood under the latch.


----------



## cpgoose (Nov 9, 2013)

joecaption said:


> Is there brick moulding around the door opening?
> If you where to remove the door and add a strip of 1/4" lattice to each side, adjust the head pieces if need be (cut it) and reinstalled the door making sure to drill pilot holes for the screws that would give you the 1/2 you need without the unsightly block of wood under the latch.


I believe it's just wood around the door - no brick.

I guess I'm not following where you're talking about putting the lattice. (I'm assuming you mean lattice like you would see underneath someone's deck, right?) Do you just mean behind/underneath the metal framing of the screen door? See attached for a poor picture of the door. Sorry, I can try to take a better one if you think it would help.


----------



## HomeSealed (Jan 3, 2008)

If I'm understanding this correctly, it sounds like you need to cut down the head z-bar so that you can bring the latch side closer. As joe described, you basically need to "build in" the opening so that there is still some support behind it. By lattice/lath, that refers to strips of wood roughly 1/4" thick and 1 1/2" wide or so that work well for this task.
Also, brickmold refers to the wood trim around the door opening.


----------



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Exactly, thanks for clearing that up for me.
All storm doors have the min. and max. opening sizes in the directions.
Seems like no one every reads that part and just attaches the hinge side tight to the trim. 
That's why you see a lot of them with ugly spacers under the latches.
Once the lattis strips are installed and the doors back in place a simple way to cover all that up is with some 1/4 round.


----------



## cpgoose (Nov 9, 2013)

Haha, I thought having actual "brick" around the door would have seem weird - that makes more sense now :thumbsup:

Ok, so if I'm understanding you guys correctly, I would just remove the metal frame of the screen door, install the lattice strips to the existing wood frame, and then re-install the screen door frame back over the lattice strips?

Are these strips something commonly sold, or should I just cut my own on a table saw with some plywood or something similar?

Thanks again for the help!


----------



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

The strips going around the inside of the door opening trim not on the outside face of the trim.
Most often the head piece may need to be cut because the opening is now going to be 1/2 smaller.
Any box store should have them, some will have pressure treated and vinyl. Both will work.


----------



## cpgoose (Nov 9, 2013)

Hi folks, just a quick follow-up from some work I did this weekend.

Rather than working on the side that had the latch plate, I worked on the other side of the screen door - the side that has the hinges. Basically I took off the screen door, then I took off the metal framing of that side. I put some pieces of wood down to 1/4" and then nailed them in and installed the door frame back on top of it. It was funny because the top of the door would hit the frame when closing, the middle of the door was fine, and the bottom of the door was too short. So I literally cut down the pieces to be thinner at the top, and then get bigger as you go down the door. 

I haven't gotten to it yet, but I bought some spackle to fix the lines in between the three sections of wood since their not the same heights. Also bought some primer and paint to hide it a little more. We'll see how it goes!


----------



## cpgoose (Nov 9, 2013)

Ok, so the spackling isn't going well so I was curious if you guys had any other ideas to cover up the 3 pieces of wood. Can I buy a sheet of aluminum and cut it to size? Can I put a piece of molding over everything to cover it up? The hard part is that the three pieces of wood are different thicknesses. So if I were to put one long piece of molding over them, it probably woudn't sit flush.

See the following two pictures...
http://cpgoose.webs.com/doorclose.jpg

http://cpgoose.webs.com/doorfarther.jpg


----------



## HomeSealed (Jan 3, 2008)

Not sure how/where those shims are attached, but typically they are installed so that they do not protrude out of the "return" area directly behind the z-bar. You could potentially cut off the excess to accomplish that, and then you can just run a bead of caulk to cover. That could be difficult though again depending on where the shims are fastened, and what material and thickness that the shims are.


----------



## hand drive (Apr 21, 2012)

you could paint those shims the brown paint color and blend them into the spot...


----------



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

You used way to wide a shim and made it far harder on yourself.
It never should have been any wider then the metal on the door.
Then you could have used 1/4 round to cover the gap.
No clue where the drywall compound comes in. Never should have been needed if it was done right.


----------

