Because full-size storm doors are awkward and unwieldy to handle during the shipping process they are prone to shipping damages. For this reason America’s Pet Store no longer sells full-size storm doors with pet doors pre-mounted (already installed). To avoid potential hassles, we suggest that you purchase your storm door locally and your pet door here at Americas-Pet-Store.com.
There are several reasons it could be to your advantage to purchase a full-size storm door at a local store, instead of online:
Reason #1: You’ll completely eliminate any risk of shipping damages if you buy your full-size door locally. As mentioned above, storm doors with pet doors have a higher-than-average risk of being damaged in shipping.
Reason #2: You will probably be far more satisfied if you buy your storm door locally because you'll have a much bigger choice of features, styles and colors. Pre-fabricated storm doors with pre-installed pet doors offer very few options, so they are difficult or downright impossible to coordinate with a home’s style or color-scheme.
Reason #3: If you have never hung a full-size door before, it can be tricky business. You may want to seriously consider having your storm door hung professionally. If you buy your storm door locally, your retailer will likely offer professional installation services. In many cases, you can negotiate a price to also include installation of a pet door into your new storm door, which usually will not cost much more.
TIP: When shopping for your storm door, it’s a good idea to bring your pet door and/or its installation template with you so you can compare the overall dimensions. Don’t forget to make sure that the thickness of the storm door you buy is narrow enough to fit inside the frame of your pet door. (Some pet doors have telescoping/adjustable frames.)
Here are some suggestions on different brands of pet doors suitable for installation in storm doors.
Unlike full-size storm doors with pet doors, your options for pet doors alone are vastly greater when shopping online, as opposed to a “brick and mortar” store in your local area. Traditional stores simply don’t have the space to carry such a huge amount of inventory, whereas online shopping gives you an abundance of choices.
America’s Pet Store offers many top-notch, energy-efficient pet doors for dogs and cats that are suitable for installing in storm doors…and they all come with free shipping!
You’ll find all sizes - from small pet doors all the way through large pet doors, and some XL pet doors, too. For easier installment, we suggest that you purchase a self-framing, door mount pet door. Here are just a few recommendations:
Patio Pacific Endura Door Mount Pet Doors
PetSafe Freedom Pet Doors
Freedom Pet Pass Door Mount Pet Doors
Ideal Pet Doors – Draft Stopper Ultra-Flex Series
Handyman or DIY?
Getting the installation right is essential for your satisfaction with any pet door that you purchase. If you don’t consider yourself handy, we strongly recommend that you look into having a handyman install your pet door. Once a hole is cut in your door there is no undoing it.
However, if you are a do-it-yourselfer and find that you have questions about installation of your pet door, do not hesitate to call us. Again, it’s important to get installation right to be satisfied with your pet door. America’s Pet Store customer service representatives will be happy to help you with any questions you may have.
Other Options:
If you have a patio, perhaps one of our pet doors for sliding glass doors would be a good solution. Pet doors for patio doors are designed to be very easy to install; many just pop right in and sit on the same track as your sliders.
Please keep in mind that not all pet doors for sliders will work with vinyl sliders (such as Anderson or Pella). Here are some patio pet panels we carry that will work with vinyl sliders:
Hale’s Omni Patio Pet Panels
Pet 1 Product’s Patio Pet Doors
Ideal’s VIP Patio Pet Panels
Please note: while automatic pet doors are available in some patio pet door models, none of the pet doors that are compatible with vinyl sliders are automatic/electronic.