PATIO DOOR SECRETS

Sliding doors don’t slide… they roll. And, the rolling part is a main factor in all patio door problems including drafts, misalignment, loose handles, scraping noises and dragging.


The secret is hidden in the base of your sliding patio door. In a slot or wide groove (out of sight) in the bottom horizontal frame of the operating door (the one that moves) are a pair of adjustable steel housings, axles, bearings and grooved zinc plated steel wheels called “rollers”. (Some can be nylon or stainless)

In the first twenty years of life, these roller assemblies deteriorate… the zinc plating wears and the metal rusts, the bearings wear and reduce (or stop) wheel rotation. The axles wear and can allow the door to shift and scrape the track walls… and the concave groove in each roller can flatten and create a misalignment of the door and gouging of the track rail.

As the above conditions gradually become more severe, the door becomes more difficult to move, the handles can break from the strain and drafts are common. It is not that the door is heavy or old… it’s the rollers!

When the rollers don’t roll, then the door “slides”… and, spreading grease or oil on the track will give you some relief for only about a day or two.

Bottom line, you just need to change the rollers.

There are over 300 different types of roller assemblies for the many patio doors that have been manufactured over the last 50 years. Some door rollers are extinct and new versions need to be skillfully retrofitted.

Regardless, changing the rollers is very cost-effective and is typically less than 10% of the cost of a new patio door system.  This only needs to be done every 15-20 years.

Because of the various conditions caused by roller failure, just changing them may not completely solve all the issues. Therefore, someone with inexperience may find themselves in over their head.

WHO IS SLIDERS?

SLIDERS, under the direction of Charlie Scott, an award-winning engineer, provides residential sliding door maintenance on Chicago's north shore.

This involves those pesky sliding patio, closet and shower doors that annually become more difficult to operate. Thinking they just need new doors, few homeowners know that sliding doors just need a little attention now and then. But, until Sliders®, there were no companies to provide the skilled workmanship and readily available parts to fill the void in the area.

Factory trained, insured and accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Sliders® provides cost-effective repairs to the thousands of sliding patio, closet and shower doors on Chicago’s north shore.

Sliders has received prestigious awards from the BBB, Angie's List and Chamber of Commerce.
http://chicago.bbb.org/article/nine-chicago-area-businesses-to-receive-the-better-business-bureaus-2014-torch-award-for-marketplace-ethics-44648

SLIDERS DON'T SLIDE, THEY ROLL!

Millions of homeowners struggle every day to move the sliding door accessing their patio, deck or pool. Their sliding doors have not been easy to open or close for many years. And the recommendations from friends to coat the track with grease, silicone or WD-40 has provided only temporary relief.

A lubricant would help if the doors really did slide, but they don't. Sliding patio doors, produced by hundreds of different manufacturers since the middle of the last century actually roll on wheels. These "rollers" are hidden in the bottom horizontal frame of the door.

The rollers (wheels) are typically made of zinc coated steel. (some can be stainless and some are made of a hard nylon) There is an area near each corner in the bottom (metal or wood) frame of the door for each roller assembly. Each assembly consists of a housing, at least one wheel, a bearing assembly, an axel pin and usually a height adjustment screw.

The dimensions of the housing, diameter of the wheel and mounting style can be unique to a specific brand of door. There are hundreds of different roller assemblies and wheel diameters can range from 3/4" to over 2". The number of wheels and their diameter is usually related to the size and weight of the door.

The lubricated bearings, which carry the load and allow the wheel to rotate smoothly, will wear over time. When the bearings gradually become worn, the wheels begin to drag... making the door harder to move... little by little.

As the bearings become worn, homeowners, who have enjoyed the use of their sliding patio door for at least a decade or more, hardly notice the gradual resistance and drag in the door's operation and have come to accept that this is the way the door moves... as it appears to have always moved this way.

Eventually, the bearings become so worn the rollers become "frozen" and don't roll at all. (This is the point where the homeowner begins to apply the grease.)

In reality, the correct solution is to just have the roller assemblies replaced. It can take a professional less than an hour (under ideal circumstances) and, when the new roller bearings are properly lubricated, the door can be moved in either direction with one finger.

It is recommended that roller assemblies be replaced every twenty to twenty-five years. Unfortunately, finding a qualified professional who has access to the specific replacement rollers for your door can be frustrating. Local home centers carry just a few styles and many obsolete assemblies may require some creative retrofitting.

If your sliding patio door cannot be moved with one finger in either direction... the movement is noisy or the track displays gouges... you most likely need your rollers replaced.

Other factors can affect your door's operation and will be discussed later.

There is seldom a cost-effective reason to replace an entire sliding door system when simple maintenance can address all issues.