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columbusguy1

Antique Screen/Storm Door Inserts

columbusguy1
12 years ago

I have a screen door exactly like the one in the picture below, and need help finding a part which helps hold the inserts in place! There are two methods my door uses, one is 'spiders' whose screw can be loosened and then rotated to allow the insert to come out...and the other is actually inside the door itself: you turn a slotted screw, and this causes a rectangular metal piece to swing out from inside the door frame to fit into a corresponding slot in the insert.

My problem is, I am missing one of the rectangular metal pieces and need to find a replacement. Does anyone know what these are called, and where I could get one? I have tried various searches involving 'screen fasteners' etc., and all I turn up are either screen hangers for storm windows, or screen door latches, neither of which I need.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Comments (8)

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    12 years ago

    How about a photo of the piece of hardware in question?
    Casey

  • ks_toolgirl
    12 years ago

    I agree - a pic would be helpful. I have so much vintage/antique hardware, many of which I don't have any idea what they are. If I could see what you're talking about, it may spark a "So THAT'S what that is" moment.

    Why do I have this stuff? Long story... Best friend (& neighbor), was an "auction junkie/eBay seller/swap meet seller"... & a serious hoarder. She passed unexpectedly in her sleep, 43 years old, 3 years ago. Her husband threw everything in garbage bags, piled them in the alley & called trash company to pick up & take to the dump. He let me drag bags home & sort through them. Hundreds of HUGE bags. (Her stuff, her kids stuff, stuff she was going to sell, etc. A few things were MY stuff she'd borrowed). He was an ass.
    I returned what I could to her family - living on our same block - her parents & his stepkids. (All the depression glass - shattered & broken, since he threw it into trash bags - kills me!).
    Here's a few pics of things I salvaged, just to show an example...

    Brass doorplates, brass & glass knobs boxed separately..

    Sorry, Columbusguy, to get so off-topic! (The 2nd pic is actually the container I'd thought those hooks were in, lol). My point is, if you need old-house things like that, there's a decent chance that I have it - & I'll share, as long as I don't want it for MY house, lol. We gotta stick together, right? (Btw... "Will trade for cookies & fudge!").

    Took the guy over a month to empty house into trash bags - DH & I dragging as many of them over here as we could, took us MANY months to go through them... & clearly has taken me 3 years (& counting!) to get over it. (Our front porch, our back porch, our living room & 2 other rooms, & part of front & back yard... Black trash bags full of stuff we sorted through.. One bag at a time, & a lot of it WAS trash... DH is a good man). :-)

  • columbusguy1
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Just got a new (to me) camera Friday, will try to get a pic to post by Wednesday--need to think about putting in the storm window anyway since it got down to 51 last night! Stupid camera manual is 200 pages, most of it stuff I don't need to worry about...but got to get through the basic section to take a pic.

    I make damn good chocolate chip cookies, and learned to do a peanut butter fudge from my dad--always a Christmas treat--but I don't do them often anymore since I got the joys of being diabetic seven years ago. :(

    KS, man, you are lucky, except for the Depression glass--I'd love to sort through old house stuff like that! I have a few green plates, and a couple pink pieces, but that's about it for my D collection. I do have a set of english transferware from the 30s which has a nice oriental pattern though.

    Will do the pic hopefully tomorrow.

  • columbusguy1
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Okay, got pics of the way my screen holders work...first trial of my new camera, so they may be a bit blurry. Also, I can't figure how to get the piece out of the door, since the rectangular metal piece turns with the slotted screw, so I guess it won't be easy to replace; these are positioned on the inner side of the screen door--on the outside, it looks like the screw end is capped by a plug!

    Sorry the pics are a bit big--the first shows the screw/insert holder concealed inside the door:


    Second pic shows the metal piece out, where it would fit into the corresponding slot on the screen/storm insert:

    The last pic shows the outside of the door, and the plugs which appear to conceal the screw ends:

    So what I need is the rectangularish piece and maybe the slotted screw for it--although I have the old screw, it might be broken. As a special bonus, the first picture also shows half of the 'spider' which is a secondary holder for the inserts! :)

    Any help is appreciated--I have no clue what this piece is called!

  • columbusguy1
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Just a note: DAY FROM HELL! :)

    Let's replace the drippy kitchen faucet! Easy, right? NO! Flexible hoses came off old faucet fine (did NOT want to deal with copper piping, so used these to attach old faucet)--had to go to Lowes to get a Basin Wrench to undo the nuts holding the faucet to the sink!

    Done, cool. New faucet puttied, teflon taped, set on top of sink...new locknuts fresh from box--one goes on fine, other one is stripped! Second trip to Lowes, new locknut to replace new one from faucet box.

    Locknuts work, faucet is attached to sink! Yay! Hoses attached to faucet. Yay. Drain reassembled--leaks! (Had to remove part of it because was in the way of putting in new faucet--all plastic pipe except for tailpiece of left-hand bowl...hence, THIRD TRIP TO LOWES! Old metal tailpiece came off--nut was totally eaten away by time, so had to go get a new nut for it--I'll be smart also and buy a replacement pvc tailpiece...Works! Now leak from right-hand drain--missing washer for tailpiece! ALMOST went to Lowes, but was fed up, hooked it up using teflon tape and plumbers putty for now--no leaks now! YAY!

    Cleaning up, found missing washer under the towel and miscellaneous tools on top of sink--will put it back in place when it starts leaking again--totally fed up for the day--maybe the weekend! :)

    Now I know why plumbers charge so much!!

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    12 years ago

    Those look like they would be ultra-simple to make with a few hand tools and some scraps of sheet steel. Take one out and bring it to a machine shop.
    Casey

  • columbusguy1
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Worthy, I can't figure out how to remove them--I'm hoping the screw isn't part of the metal holder since they rotate together...will I have to remove the plug from the other side to do it?

    KS, where are you--searching for my part? :)

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    12 years ago

    You must grasp the tab with pliers or jam some tool in the slot so it can't rotate as you withdraw the screws.
    The screw probably has a shoulder on it so when it tightens down the tab can rotate nicely.
    Caseye