Repairing A Larson Storm Door
My Larson storm door recently started dragging and sticking on the door handle side at the threshold when opened. Looking closer at the hinges it appeared that the screws were loose and it was time for a storm door repair.
A closer look and attempts to tighten the screws revealed that two of the four [top and middle] hinges were stripped which tilted the door into the threshold.
Most people at this point would try to jury rig this repair by force a larger diameter screw into the hole with a cordless drill . . . or buy a new door. This door was the best quality that Larson sold at the time, and is expensive to replace so for me replacement was not an option.
I removed the door to inspect the stripped screw holes. I determined that I could use the next screw size up and opted to use a slightly longer than original, stainless steel, machine screw instead of the “self drilling screw” type that was originally installed.
Re-Threading The Hinge Screws
Using a tap and die set I tapped slightly larger screw holes working the tap in and out to create crisply defined screw threads.
I also tapped the hinge jamb holes. My thought was that by threading the hinges as well the two would mate together better and would be less likely to loosen.
Use larger screws
Having the right tool for a job means the difference between a successful, timely repair and frustration or jury rigging!
Once all the holes were tapped, I reinstalled the hinge jamb and reinstalled the door.
The new, larger screws corrected the problem and took about 1 hour to do and saved me time and money in the end.
Finished!