There are many benefits to sliding doors which makes them an amazing asset for any home or commercial space. Consisting mostly of glass, they let in tremendous amounts of natural light, which can transform any room. Sliding doors can extend your views, whilst providing shelter from the elements and more importantly security. In terms of door solutions there’s nothing better that provides that effortless indoor / outdoor living feel to your home. Taking up virtually no floor space compared to French style patio or bifold doors, this flexibility means furniture placement doesn’t require careful planning or consideration.
When sliding doors work properly, they are a dream to operate regardless of their size. If you have a young family ensuring they can easily access the both indoor & outdoor areas of your home is important. You should be able to open and close the sliding doors with a light push of your hand which means little hands can easily operate them too. Do your sliding doors operate like this? (link to youtube video)
But what if your sliding door doesn’t work properly? What if it keeps getting stuck and it’s a struggle to open and close? Or the sliding door is making a horrendous screeching sound every time it is opened and closed! If you live in an apartment block and you have noisy sliding doors you are probably disturbing your neighbour’s peace and quiet. This is when sliding doors become less of a dream and more of a nightmare. A sliding door that sticks is not an asset to any home or office. There is a common misconception that large doors would naturally be heavy to operate but this is simply not true.
There are a number of reasons your sliding doors may be in need of some TLC and below we will explore the top 4 common issues that will help you identify the problem with your sliding door. More importantly these issues can all be easily fixed affordably giving you back your dream doors.
The rollers are located on the bottom of the door frame, sit on the track and keep the sliding door moving smoothly. The life expectancy of sliding door rollers according to manufacturer’s warranty is 2 years which is typical for moving parts. But rollers can live long past this due date and up to 10+ years with regular cleaning and maintenance. Typically sliding door rollers break down due to age, wear & tear, dirt/debris build up in the tracks and environmental pollutants such as salt crystal and industrial pollutant deposits. If the sliding door frame is sitting on the track, requires extreme force to slide, screeches and the sliding door looks like it may fall out then its highly likely that the rollers have either collapsed, are broken or are completely missing.
Sliding door handles are fairly hardy mechanisms but as with all hardware won’t live forever. Have you noticed the sliding door handle has become loose, is detached from the frame, has ripped off completely or the lock won’t engage in the keeper? These common sliding door problems are usually related to roller deterioration or break down and is caused by the force applied to operate the sliding doors with broken or missing rollers. When rollers break or are missing the door becomes extremely heavy to move and more and more force is applied leading to these hardware issues. The door will typically fall out of alignment causing the lock to not engage in the keeper. These problems pose a security risk to your home.
Have you noticed a gap between the glass panel and the sliding door frame allowing air & rain to get in? This is another common symptom of sliding door roller deterioration or collapse and occurs when extreme force is being used to open and close the sliding door. Whilst letting in the elements is not ideal, and may increase your energy bills, exposed glass, especially when it is not edged is extremely dangerous and may eventually fall out. A seriously dangerous situation if you have little people living in your home!
Another common cause of sliding doors sticking is simply lack of regular cleaning and maintenance. When sliding doors were installed, your installer should inform you of or refer you to the correct maintenance procedures for the product, as this is critical for warranty purposes. There will naturally be different maintenance requirements for sliding doors based a few variables. The age of the sliding doors, the fabrication material are they constructed from timber, aluminium, a combination of timber & aluminium or uPVC; and the location of the property such as waterfront, coastal, industrial, metro or rural. Regular cleaning of the tracks with a vacuum to suck up dirt, sand, dog hair & debris; washing the sliding door hardware with warm water and dishwashing detergent and using the correct hardware lubricants will go a long way to giving the sliding door hardware a long life and staying in good operational condition for years.
Need help with your sliding door problems?
If you are experiencing any or all these problems and need a professional to help then Exitoso & Co, are here to do just that. We offer professional sliding door repair & maintenance services so you can get back to enjoying the benefits of having a sliding door that you can effortlessly operate. Call us today on 0477 006 654, and we’ll have your sliding door working as good as new in no time at all.
Lic: 322106C
Master Security Licence: #000105226
ABN: 99 603 869 487