Do you ever have difficulties opening your sliding glass doors? Do you find it getting stuck or hard to budge? This can be a common problem when it comes to sliding glass doors. It can give you a hard time going in and out of rooms, and makes loud screeching noises that are hard on your ears.
How to Keep your Sliding Glass Doors Functional
If you have a similar problem, there are a couple of quick fixes that you can do. Fine-tuning your sliding glass door will not cost much and is easy to accomplish. Neither will it take too much time but is sure to get your door sliding how it should.
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Clean the Sliding Tracks
Standard glass doors have sliding tracks that allow the rollers on your doors to glide smoothly. After some time, the track and rollers accumulate dirt and grime. This prevents your door from sliding smoothly because of all the debris that is in the way. This is especially so if your door is a main access where people bring in dirt from the outside.
You can use a toothbrush or wire brush to clean the tight spaces and corners on the sliding tracks. The thinner the better. You have to really get in there so that you can get all the crammed dirt out.
Slide your brush from side to side to clean the track. You may also use water with soap or any other cleaning agent. You will then notice a lot of debris coming out. These should then be vacuumed to make sure they don’t go back on the track. It would be a waste to do all that brushing just to blow the dirt back into the crevices.
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Lubricate Your Door Track
Sometimes, your tracks are squeaky clean but you still have a hard time sliding your door. This may be because there is too much friction between your tracks and rollers.
After some time, you can expect these parts to wear down and start rubbing against each other. You may even notice an annoying grating or scraping noise when you try to slide your door.
If this is your problem, you should lubricate your tracks right away. There are tons of sprays or oils on the market that are specially made for doors. It’s best to use silicone based lubricants that do not attract dirt which may further cause your door to get stuck.
Make sure to lubricate the whole length of your tracks to ensure smooth sliding. Wipe away any residue on your door or floors as well.
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Realign Your Rollers
If your sliding door cannot be fixed by lubrication or cleaning, then your problem must be with your sliding door and the components itself.
Sliding doors have rollers that glide along a track. One problem may be that the rollers aren’t aligned on the track they’re supposed to be on. You can try moving the doors around until you find where it has been misaligned, and push it back into place.
If this does not work, you have to remove the entire door from the track and put the whole thing back into place. You can do this by pushing the door up so that the wheels no longer touch the tracks. You may need an extra set of hands to do this. Next, carefully set the roller on the tracks until it is in place.
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Adjust the Roller Screws
If you are still not having any luck, you have to adjust your rollers. To do this, you have to access the adjustable roller screws.
These can be found at the bottom part of the sides of your sliding door. These usually have plastic plugs covering them. Pry these plugs loose and you will see tiny screws on the inside of your doors.
These screws will move the roller height up and down by as much as a quarter to half an inch. Turn the screws a quarter turn at a time and tinker around until you find the adjustment that will allow your doors to glide smoothly. You may also apply some lubricant on the screws for easy movement.
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Check for Broken Components
The last option would be that your door and its components may have some sort of damage to them. To remedy this, you have to remove the door entirely from the track. Check if the rollers are worn down, cracked, or bent. If so, they must be replaced.
The track itself may also have cracks or damages causing the rollers to derail or get stuck. Either do a quick fix or replace your track completely.
Do not let stuck sliding doors get in the way of admiring your beautiful glass panes. For more inquiries on how to maintain your sliding glass doors, contact Glass King now!
