Patio door repair guides

This page gives no prices, because a figure without the door in front of it is a guess. It lists the eight things a technician has to establish first, with the manufacturer facts that explain each.

A panel off its track is a heavy sheet of glass. Leave it where it is, look at four things, and let someone with help put it back.

One manufacturer ties the noise to the rollers, and the rollers cannot be seen without removing the panel. Cleaning the track is the owner's step. It rules out the simpler faults first.

The words a technician or a quote will use, grouped by where the part sits on the door. Every definition comes from a door manufacturer's own guide, and the entry says which one.

X is the panel that slides and O the one that stays put. Andersen reads the letters left to right from outside; if your door is another make, check its maker's documents.

Most of what a technician or a parts counter asks about a sliding door can be written down once, on one card, and kept with the door's paperwork.

In Texas, a rental dwelling covered by Property Code Subchapter D needs, while a tenant is in possession, a pin lock on each exterior sliding glass door, plus a handle latch or a security bar, at the landlord's expense. The landlord repairs them when the tenant asks, presumed within seven days.

A draft at a bottom corner can point to a worn or misplaced seal there, or to a panel that no longer presses against its seals. Lock the door, clean the track, and look at the seals. Some of them can only be replaced with the panel out.

Some pooling in the sill track during heavy rain is normal if it drains. Water through the door points to its seals, drainage, or panel. Water around the door points to the installation, which a professional inspects.

A sliding door that stops short is usually blocked in the track, held off by its weatherstrip, out of line with the frame or the other panel, or catching on a loose keeper. Clean the track and look before you push harder.

Start with the track: Andersen says screen operating problems are often caused by dirt in the screen track. After that it is the screen's rollers or guides and how they are set. Clean the track first, then look at the rollers.

A balcony door that is hard to slide is almost always a sliding patio door with the same rollers, track and adjustment screws as one that opens onto a yard. What changes in an apartment or condominium is who arranges the repair, and how much care an upper floor demands. Nothing here asks you to lift or remove a panel.

Look in two places: the frame for a label, and the corners of the glass for an etching or a number between the panes. What you find depends on the maker, and JELD-WEN sends you to the purchase paperwork instead.

The first checks are the same: JELD-WEN's vinyl and wood guides give the same causes and fixes for a panel that will not open. The frame is what differs. Wood needs its finish kept up, painting vinyl or aluminum cladding affects Andersen's warranty, and MITER Brands warns that aluminum frames can corrode.

The rollers ride on a track in the sill; on some doors it is a raised rail the wheel is shaped to sit on. A dented or worn rail can take a cap: the door maker's own part, as Andersen sells, or an aftermarket cap like Prime-Line's 1/4 inch stainless one. Prime-Line asks buyers to check its drawing against the original, and this site leaves work with the panel out to a professional.

JELD-WEN's wood patio door guide (JPG012) covers its Custom, EpicVue, Siteline, W-5500, and W-2500 doors. To tell which one you have, JELD-WEN says to check the purchase paperwork or call. The guide's sliding door repairs fall into three routes: care with the door in place, parts ordered from JELD-WEN, and work with the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional.

JELD-WEN's vinyl patio door guide (JPG008) covers its Premium and Builders Series doors. To tell which one you have, JELD-WEN says to check the purchase paperwork or call. The guide's sliding door repairs fall into three routes: care with the door in place, parts ordered from JELD-WEN, and work with the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional.

Dallas City Code Chapter 52 lists replacing an exterior door among the work that needs no permit, if the new door is the same size and required type, the wall framing is not changed, and the door is not part of fire-rated construction. Historic and conservation districts have their own rules. The glass in a sliding glass door falls under a federal safety standard, and ENERGY STAR sets the ratings a certified door must meet.

Pella puts a Unit ID Number on each window and door, and on a sliding patio door it may be on the glass, the frame, or near the handle. The number may name the series; if it does not, Pella says to call Pella Customer Service and read it off. Pella's Windows and Patio Doors Owner's Manual covers ten sliding door lines in its main sections and three discontinued ones in an appendix. Its sliding door care is done with the door in place: a clean track, clear weep holes, roller and lock strike adjustment, and screen care. Glass replacement and removing the sliding panel go to a professional.

BHMA defines a mortise lock as a lock fitting a rectangular cavity in the edge of a door, and JELD-WEN's wood patio door guide describes its single-point sliding door lock as a lock assembly held by screws in the door edge. JELD-WEN and Andersen publish lock replacement steps. JELD-WEN says its repair tasks can be done by a homeowner with some mechanical aptitude, and that if you are unsure, it recommends hiring a trained service provider. Pella's manual gives no lock replacement steps, and says all service adjustments to its hinged doors should be performed by a professional.

Andersen's 100 Series gliding patio door is made of Fibrex composite material inside and out, with one panel that glides and one that stays put. Andersen makes no three- or four-panel 100 Series door in one frame. Its insect screen is handed the same as the door; its rollers, locks, and weatherstrip are not. The roller depends on the date the door was made, and the lock guide depends on whether it has Tulsa or Afton hardware. Track cleaning and lock adjustment are done with the door in place; inspecting rollers takes the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional.

Andersen's 400 Series Frenchwood gliding patio door has a natural wood interior and a vinyl exterior, which Andersen calls Perma-Shield cladding. The door sold as the Perma-Shield gliding door is a different, 200 Series product with a vinyl-clad interior. On the Frenchwood, the handles, the frame weatherstrip, and the exterior keyed lock are handed the same as the door; the panels, screens, rollers, and interlock weatherstrip are not. Andersen's roller and lock adjustments are done with the panel in its frame. Replacing rollers or the bottom rail filler takes the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional.

Milgard's sliding glass doors page lists six series: V400 Tuscany, V300 Trinsic, and V450 in vinyl, C700 and C650 Ultra in fiberglass, and A250 in aluminum. Milgard calls the Sales Order number, located between the panes of glass, the unique identification number for the product. Milgard's how-to sheets cover cleaning the track and weep holes, adjusting the rollers, the strike plate, and the screen, and replacing the lock snib. Replacing rollers takes the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional. Milgard's 2024 warranties depend on the series, who owns the home, and whether it sat inside Milgard's Service Territory at purchase.

Andersen makes two 200 Series gliding patio doors, and says the biggest difference is the inside: the Perma-Shield has a vinyl-clad interior, the Narroline a wood interior. Andersen has also offered the Narroline with a white interior, so the panel count and the label help settle it. Andersen's documents show the Perma-Shield in two-panel units and, from 1968 to 1998, three panels in one frame, and the Narroline in two- and four-panel units. The two hand some parts differently, and Andersen's documents differ on whether a Narroline operating panel is handed. Doors made from 1982 on use the same tandem roller as the 400 Series; inspecting or replacing it takes the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional.

Andersen describes its A-Series gliding patio door as wood protected by fiberglass and its E-Series as wood protected by an aluminum exterior. Andersen also calls the A-Series door the A-Series Frenchwood gliding door; its worksheet pairs it with a multi-point lock, against the 400 Series Frenchwood's reachout lock. E-Series doors made from 2006 to October 2016 have a two-point hook lock, and later ones use A-Series lock mechanisms unless specified. A-Series rollers and trim sets are in the Andersen Parts Store; for A-Series lock parts and E-Series rollers, screens, and older handles and locks, Andersen asks owners to contact it. Inspecting or replacing rollers takes the panel out, which this site leaves to a professional.

Match the fix to what the door does. Bumpy or hard to slide, with grit in the sill: clean the track. Drags, or the panel sits unevenly in the frame: the rollers may need adjusting. Latch misses its keeper: alignment or the keeper. Lock damaged or broken: the lock itself. Causes overlap, so rule out the simple ones first.