How to Maintain and Fix Sliding Doors The two types of doors that are easiest to open don’t have hinges at all; instead, they slide on tracks. Sliding-glass doors are a popular feature in rooms with decks or patios because their full-length glass panels open the room visually to the great outdoors while providing easy access to the outside. Interior sliding doors are frequently used for closets and pantries, and sometimes to conceal water heaters and furnaces. You can remove sliding-door panels easily to gain complete access to what’s behind them. Follow simple repairs and maintenance procedures to keep your sliding doors on track. Patio doors slide horizontally — or at least they’re supposed to. All too often, these big, pesky contraptions stubbornly resist opening, and getting outside becomes about as easy as dragging a refrigerator through a sandbox. The most common cause of a sticking patio door is debris in the lower track. This channel easily becomes clogged with dirt and leaves because people and pets walk over it whenever they go in or out.

Each time you vacuum your floors, use a small brush attachment or cordless vacuum to clean the sliding-door tracks. Apply a lubricant to both upper and lower tracks to keep the door hardware clean and operating freely. In addition to cleaning and lubricating sliding-door tracks, you want to lubricate the door lock. The best way to lubricate any lock is to disassemble it and use an aerosol lubricant to flush away grime and coat the moving parts of the lock. Sometimes, patio doors become hard to open even when the track is clean. In these cases, the problem is usually that the rollers at the bottom of the door have started to rub against the track. The rollers at the top can also wear down, lowering the bottom of the door so that it rubs on the track. Most sliding doors have a mechanism called an adjusting screw located at the bottom of the door ends. Turning this screw raises or lowers the roller. Give the screw a clockwise turn and test to see whether the door slides easier.

If the door becomes even harder to open, turn the screw in the opposite direction. After a bit of adjustment, the door should roll easily without rubbing on the bottom track. Sliding closet doors operate on rollers that are positioned in tracks at the top jamb and floor, allowing the doors to bypass each other in the tracks. Because sliding doors don’t fold out the way bifold doors do, they allow access to only half the width of the opening at a time.roll up door repair new orleans To clean and lubricate the hardware of a sliding closet door, use a stiff brush, a toothbrush, or a hand vacuum to clean dust from the tracks. interior french doors with sidelightsUse an aerosol lubricant to lubricate all the door rollers. roll up door repair new orleans

If the rollers are damaged, install replacement rollers (available at home centers). If the door doesn’t hang level, leaving an uneven gap between the door and door frame, look for an adjustable mounting screw at the inside top of each door. Use a screwdriver to adjust the mounting screw and even out the door.Years of dirt, exposure to the elements and hard use can turn sliding doors into sticking doors. sliding glass door company san joseHere's how to repair your sliding door and make it run like new.mdf internal doors uk Start with a good cleaning. iron entry doors in phoenixScrub caked dirt and grime out of the track with a stiff brush and soapy water. If the door still doesn’t slide smoothly, the rollers under

the door either need adjusting or are shot. Locate the two adjusting screws at the bottom of the door (on the face or edge of the door) and pry off the trim caps that cover the screws. If one side looks lower, raise it until the door looks even on the track (Photo 1). If the door still sticks, turn both screws a quarter turn to raise the whole door. Then slide the door just short of the jamb and be sure the gap is even. If the door still doesn't glide smoothly, you'll have to remove the door and examine the rollers. Get help for this—the door is heavy! Unscrew the stop molding on the inside of the jamb (Photo 2). hold the door in place once the stop is removed—if you forget and walk away for a moment, the door will fall in, requiring a much bigger repair! Tilt the door back (Photo 3) and set it on sawhorses. Inspect the rollers for problems. If they’re full of dirt and debris, give them a good cleaning and a few drops of lubricant and see ifHowever, if the rollers are worn, cracked or bent, remove them (Photo 4) and replace them with a new pair.

You can order rollers and other door parts for repairing sliding doors through lumberyards and home Look for the door manufacturer’s name on the edge of the door or the hardware manufacturer’s name on the roller. You shouldn't have to muscle a sliding patio door to get it to glide along its track. A slider should move easily enough for you to open it with one hand while balancing a round of drinks in the other. If you have a balky patio door or sliding screen that moves only when you jiggle it along the track, it's easy to get things rolling again with a quick tune-up. Dirty rollers are the main reason sliding doors get stuck. "Mud, food, and hair get ground onto the track," says Joe Giagnorio, who repairs about 80 sliders a year as service manager for Ring's End Lumber in Darien, Connecticut. "All that dirt clogs the rollers underneath the door." The remedy, which he demonstrates on the following pages, takes about an hour and works for wood, vinyl, and aluminum doors.

Replacement parts — for anything from a faulty latch to torn weatherstripping — are available from retailers that sell new doors of the same make. If you follow these steps and the door still doesn't slide, it may be a sign of a poor installation or an underlying structural problem, like an undersized header above the door or a rotten sill beneath it. Hire a remodeling contractor to diagnose the problem and make the necessary fixes. But if you get the old door sliding like new, it's simple to keep it that way: "Vacuum the track well whenever you clean the room," Giagnorio says. 1. Lay a drop cloth on the floor and pop off the two plugs covering the roller adjustment screws at the bottom of the sliding-door frame. (These are sometimes located in the edges of the door.) Insert a flathead screwdriver into each hole and turn the screw all the way counterclockwise (above). This retracts the rollers, lowering the door. 2. Outside, set up a couple of sawhorses with pads. Take down any removable grilles, shades, or drapes.

Slide the door fully open and remove the head stop by backing out its screws (above). Don't leave the door unattended; without a stop, it can fall. 3. While standing inside, lean the top of the sliding-door panel toward you and lift it off the bottom track (above). Set the panel on the sawhorses. Caution: Sliding doors are heavy. Make sure to bend your knees to take the weight off your back, or recruit a helper. Clean and Lubricate Tracks 1. Use a flathead screwdriver to gently pry each roller from its pocket in the bottom of the door (above). (Rollers are typically held in by friction and the weight of the door.) If they are bent or broken, replace them with new roller assemblies, which cost about $10 each. 2. Scrape any dirt from the wheels, then clean them with denatured alcohol and a rag. Lubricate only with silicone spray (above), which doesn't hold dirt. To reinstall, align each roller's adjustment screw with its access hole and tap in the assemblies with a hammer, using a wood block to protect the wheels.

Once they're seated, retract the rollers as far as possible. 3. Wipe the head track and the outside face of the removed head stop with alcohol and spray with silicone. Vacuum loose debris from the bottom track, then clean thoroughly with alcohol. The bottom track needs a more substantial lubricant than silicone; rub it a few times with a block of paraffin wax (above). 1. To replace torn or cracked weatherstripping where the sliding and fixed panels overlap, loosen its staples with a flathead screwdriver, then grab one end and pull it and the staples off the door, prying gently with a putty knife (above). Remove any remaining staples with pliers; sink the broken ones with a hammer. The strip on the jamb side is generally glued. If it's damaged, pull it off and scrape the adhesive residue with the putty knife, taking care not to mar the finish. 2. Where the sliding panel's frame overlaps the fixed panel, orient the new weatherstripping with its flap facing as indicated on the instructions.

Align the top end with the shadow line of the head stop, and secure the flange tightly along the door's edge. Drill a 1/8-inch-diameter pilot hole at each of the holes in the flange and drive the screws provided (above). Do the same on the fixed panel so the two strips interlock. Glue the jamb-side strip in place with a plastic adhesive. Clean up smudges and fingerprints with alcohol. 3. Set the door back on the bottom track and tilt it up. Brace the door with your body and reattach the head stop. (Don't leave the door unattended until stop is installed.) Roll the door to within a half-inch of the latch-side jamb, then turn the roller adjustment screws until the door is parallel to the jamb (above). If the latch does not mate with its receiver on the jamb, adjust the receiver by loosening its screws and moving the plate up or down. Dropping a broom handle into a sliding-door track keeps the door from opening, but it's not an ideal security device. "It looks terrible, and you have to bend down to put it in and take it out," says Joe Giagnorio.

He prefers retrofitting a simple foot-operated auxiliary lock, which costs under $20.Close and latch the door, then temporarily mount the lock against its lower edge. Now lower the locking bolt and mark its location on the rail in pencil (1). Remove the lock and drill a hole (sized as specified) through the track, and pop in the rubber grommet provided. Then remount the lock and test it. Stepping on the top engages the bolt (2); pressing on the side releases it. And what about the old broomstick? "I tell people with kids that it's just right for a game of stickball," Giagnorio says. Lightweight and relatively frail, sliding screens are often the most problem-plagued component of a sliding-door assembly. While the basic maintenance steps are the same, there are a few crucial differences. When removing the door, move it to the center of the opening and lift it off the bottom track first. When replacing it, insert it into the bottom track last. Some screen rollers can't be removed;