LESLIE: James in New Jersey finds The Money Pit on WCTC. How can we help today?
JAMES: I have a little problem with my outside storm door. It’s starting to form ice on it. Just had it newly installed. And I wonder what’s causing the ice to form on the inside of the door.
LESLIE: Did you have a storm door there before this one?
JAMES: Yes, I had a storm door before this one.
LESLIE: And there was none of this condensation problem beforehand?
JAMES: None beforehand. But I don’t think the storm door before this one fit as snug as this one did. This was a custom made storm door.
TOM: You know, what you might be experiencing here is the fact that it is so snug any water vapor that was in there before got easily ventilated out. But because this one’s tight, you’re going to have some water vapor that gets in there and then it frosts on the inside of the glass because it’s going to be warmer in between the glass and the door than it would be on the outside.
LESLIE: Which means that you’re interior door has a great seal.
TOM: Yeah, exactly. So it’s kind of a good problem to have. It’s probably annoying to you. But I don’t think that it’s the fault of either door. I think it’s just the fact that you’re getting humidity in that space that can’t get out. See when you had a poorly fitting storm door, there was plenty of ventilation in there. You know, it stopped the big breezes from blowing in but now that it’s nice and tight, it’s not a humidity proof seal so you’re going to get some higher moisture in there. And what happens is as it gets colder on the outside, you get condensation and that’s what’s forming the ice.
James, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
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