Sliding Door Repairs that You Can Complete Yourself

A lot of people in this country have sliding doors to get into their garden areas. As a result, there is also a high need for repair. What most people do not know, however, is that they can complete many of these repairs themselves.

An out of Square Door

The first thing you need to understand is that, as a home ages, it becomes out of square. Basically, the house starts to settle. As a result, however, doors will start to jam and not open as easily anymore, and this is perhaps most noticeable in glass doors. Check the top and the bottom of your door to see how it is doing. If you notice a crack when you’re trying to slide the door, it is out of square.

You can generally fix this by adjusting the wheels. There should be some small holes at the bottom of the frame, often with a small cap on them to make the holes less visible. Simply lift the caps and use a screwdriver to move the wheels up or down until the door slides again.

You can also try to shim the door if adjusting the wheels doesn’t work. This is a little more intensive, because it means you have to remove the door trim. Once you do that, you will see that the whole door is shimmed into the opening and it is likely that it will be quite significantly out of square. Unscrew the door, square it back into place and this should solve the problem. Plus, it will make it more efficient as it will once again be able to keep your heat in.

Broken Mechanisms

It is also possible, as your door ages, that the handle or latch mechanism breaks down. This is reasonably easy to replace and you only need to find the hardware. Even if your manufacturer has long since gone out of business, or you don’t know who they are, you should be able to find parts online and in many hardware stores. Consider replacing all the different parts as long as you are working on some of the hardware anyway.

Dirty Door

Finally, you would be surprised at how often a sliding door appears to be broken when it is actually just dirty. As dirt accumulates in the track and along the frame of the door itself, blockages and obstacles will star to appear. These must be cleaned up and addressed if you want your door to continue to work properly.

If none of these solutions work, it is time to call in a sliding door repair company. A professional will be able to identify exactly what is going on and what is causing the problem, as well as how it can be fixed, if at all. Do not see this as a last resort option either. As glass doors are made from glass, they have the potential to be very dangerous. If you have tried the above three methods or you’re sure they are not the cause of the problem, then get a professional in straight away.