Screen door questions?

[Ghettofab75]

You guys and gals with screen doors that are built into your entry door, how do the seals work?

Does the screen door have a seperate seal from the exterior door? Or does the exterior door seal to the screen door and the screen door seals to the door jamb, essentially sandwiching the screen when closed?

Anyone got pics of the door seals and how they work with the screen door? I for the life of me can't find any pics or info online.

Thanks!
Kevin

 

[Bosque Bill]

I don't have a detailed photo right now, but on the FWC the exterior door does all the sealing of the elements (dust, rain, etc.); it seals to the door frame; the screen door has a felt/brush gasket that will inhibit bugs from crawling between the screen door and the door jam, but does none of the sealing of the weather.

 

[Ghettofab75]

So how do they get the screen door hinge around the door seal? For the screen door to open and close with the exterior door, the hinge points must be in the same fulcrum point, which means the screen usually has to reach around the door and I'm guessing at some point its crossing over the door seal.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around this puzzle.

 

[Bosque Bill]

The screen door has a stair-stepped bracket between the door and the hinge which lays flat agains the inner frame when the door closes. The main door seals against that. If you go to this page https://bosquebill.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-inside-story_14.html
and scroll all the way to the last photo, you can see a view of the open door: the "inside" bracket connects the screen door to the hinge; the outside brackets connect the main door to the hinge.

 

[Old Crow]

Perhaps this will help on the hinge. Karlton replaced a Lippert six-leaf hinge on his door and this thread was done at that time:

anyone replaced door hinges? thread


And here's a photo of the door on my 2001 Hawk from when I installed the new bulb seal. That's the outer edge of the door.



The photo is a bit confusing but the bulb seal is around the inside of the outer edge of the door. The screen door is inside that perimeter.

If you then look at the first photo in Bosque Bill's link in post 4, I think you can see the perimeter seal on that more modern style door.

 

[Bosque Bill]

On the modern door the "bulb seal," as Old Crow names it, is on the flange of the door not the doorway. Note that not only is the screen door inside the perimeter seal, but so are the hinges (I wasn't clear on that above). That's how we get such a good seal to keep the dust and rain out.

 

[Ghettofab75]

Thanks! That does help.

Trying to figure out how to design and build a door for my project camper. I think at this point I've decided to forego a screen door attached to the entry door. I'll probably just do a seperate screen inside the camper at some point.

Kevin

 

[AWG_Pics]

You may want to prioritize that screen. We all know about flies and mosquitos, but we never expected the hordes of tiny black beetle like flying things that swarmed us in the sunset crater area of Arizona. We were sure grateful for that screen then.