Looking for advice and suggestions.

1) I have an old house in Minnesota. There's an upstairs porch and
the door that leads to it is 80 by 24 inches. There's no storm door
and much air leaks through the cracks around the door. I'd like to
get a storm door, but noone makes that size. I went to Menard's and
they quoted me for $550 for a custom sized storm door. Anyone know
how/where I might get one at a better price?

2) My basement if finished, but quite cold. Any suggestions for
strong, good space heaters? I did read about a heater that runs on
natural gas, but it's unvented and I read that that's bad for air
quality.

Thanks,

Will McGillis

"William" wrote in message
...

Looking for advice and suggestions.

1) I have an old house in Minnesota. There's an upstairs porch and
the door that leads to it is 80 by 24 inches. There's no storm door
and much air leaks through the cracks around the door. I'd like to
get a storm door, but noone makes that size. I went to Menard's and
they quoted me for $550 for a custom sized storm door. Anyone know
how/where I might get one at a better price?

Assuming the door opens in only one direction, you can for $25 make
substantial improvements yourself viz.
-- enlarge the doorstops on all four sides of the door frame so
they overlap the closed door by half an inch to one inch. (We
assume the outer edges of the door frame are draught-proof.
-- put compressing draught excluder strip on each doorstop,
just enough to require an extra pull to shut the door..
You can also cover the door with insulating material. (This
may not yield much benefit if the rest of the wall is poorly
insulated. But you can shut off the draughts yourself and
the first winter will tell you whether it is worth spending more.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On Nov 13, 10:37*am, William wrote:
Looking for advice and suggestions.

1) I have an old house in Minnesota. *There's an upstairs porch and
the door that leads to it is 80 by 24 inches. *There's no storm door
and much air leaks through the cracks around the door. *I'd like to
get a storm door, but noone makes that size. *I went to Menard's and
they quoted me for $550 for a custom sized storm door. *Anyone know
how/where I might get one at a better price?

2) My basement if finished, but quite cold. *Any suggestions for
strong, good space heaters? *I did read about a heater that runs on
natural gas, but it's unvented and I read that that's bad for air
quality.

Thanks,

Will McGillis


OR --

You could properly weatherstrip the existing door to stop the air
leaks
for much less than the quoted cost of purchasing a custom sized
storm door...

~~ Evan

"William" wrote in message
...
Looking for advice and suggestions.

1) I have an old house in Minnesota. There's an upstairs porch and
the door that leads to it is 80 by 24 inches. There's no storm door
and much air leaks through the cracks around the door. I'd like to
get a storm door, but noone makes that size. I went to Menard's and
they quoted me for $550 for a custom sized storm door. Anyone know
how/where I might get one at a better price?

2) My basement if finished, but quite cold. Any suggestions for
strong, good space heaters? I did read about a heater that runs on
natural gas, but it's unvented and I read that that's bad for air
quality.


As to space heaters, *all* 120 volt plug in space heaters are the same
and will put off the same amount of heat! There is a limit to how much
electricity (amperage/wattage) can be used with a plug-in device and
they all are at that point. They may make them look like a fireplace
or like a radiator or like it might put off more heat than another,
but the truth is in the wattage/amperage on the label! All the same!

To get more heat, you need a hard wired heater 120 volts - or better
240 volts. Then you can get more heat. Also notice the
amperage/wattage will be higher on these.

I would not install any natural gas, flame, etc. type heater unless
properly ventilated and a fresh air supply is available.

Evan wrote:
On Nov 13, 10:37 am, William wrote:
Looking for advice and suggestions.

1) I have an old house in Minnesota. There's an upstairs porch and
the door that leads to it is 80 by 24 inches. There's no storm door
and much air leaks through the cracks around the door. I'd like to
get a storm door, but noone makes that size. I went to Menard's and
they quoted me for $550 for a custom sized storm door. Anyone know
how/where I might get one at a better price?

2) My basement if finished, but quite cold. Any suggestions for
strong, good space heaters? I did read about a heater that runs on
natural gas, but it's unvented and I read that that's bad for air
quality.

Thanks,

Will McGillis


OR --

You could properly weatherstrip the existing door to stop the air
leaks
for much less than the quoted cost of purchasing a custom sized
storm door...

Or both.


~~ Evan

In article ,
"Bill" wrote:

As to space heaters, *all* 120 volt plug in space heaters are the same
and will put off the same amount of heat!

Not quite true. Some low wattage models are now on the market.