Sliding patio door glossary: the parts and terms

How to use this glossary

These are the words you will hear when someone looks at a sliding patio door, and the words a quote will use. They are grouped by where the part sits on the door.

Every entry comes from a manufacturer's own document. Where the document uses a term without defining it, the entry says so. Most are from JELD-WEN's product guides for vinyl and wood patio doors, which include a glossary. A few are from Andersen's help center, and those entries say so. Other makers may use different names for the same part. Andersen, for example, calls a sliding door a gliding door.

The door and its panels

• Sliding patio door. At least two panels side by side. At least one slides horizontally to open and close.
• Panel. One leaf of the door: the glass with its surrounding stiles and rails.
• Operating panel. The panel that slides.
• Fixed panel, or stationary panel. The panel that does not move. JELD-WEN uses both names.
• Active panel. Any panel that operates and carries lock hardware.
• Stile. A vertical member of a panel.
• Rail. A horizontal member of a panel. The top rail and bottom rail are the upper and lower edges.
• Check stile, or meeting stile. A stile JELD-WEN labels on its drawing of a sliding door. Its guide does not define the term. Its troubleshooting table says panels that do not line up at the check (meeting) stiles need their rollers adjusted.
• Interlock. A hooking action between parts of the door that reduces air leakage and adds security.
• Handing. The direction a door opens, described as right-handed or left-handed.
• Insect screen. The screen mounted on the exterior side of the operating panel.

The frame

• Frame. The head, sill, and jambs together. The frame fastens the door to the building.
• Jamb. A vertical member of the frame. JELD-WEN's drawings label a side jamb and a head jamb.
• Lock jamb. The side jamb that holds the lock keeper. The door closes into it.
• Sill. The member of the frame that carries the sill track. JELD-WEN lists it with the head and jambs as a structural member of the frame.
• Reveal. The space between the panel and the frame. JELD-WEN's troubleshooting table answers an uneven reveal on a sliding door with roller adjustment.
• Stops. Trim pieces on the frame. A head stop is the trim at the head of the door, against the interior side of the panel.
• Level, plumb, and square. The three checks of a frame. Level is checked along the head jamb and the sill, and plumb along each side jamb. Square is checked by comparing the two corner-to-corner measurements.

Rollers and tracks

• Roller. The wheel on which the operating panel travels. Andersen says its gliding patio doors use two rollers on the underside of the operating panel.
• Tandem roller. Andersen's name for the roller on several of its gliding door series. The page we opened uses the term without defining it. The Andersen 100 Series gliding door guide covers which 100 Series doors use it. The Andersen 200 Series gliding door guide covers the tandem roller Andersen names for its 400 and 200 Series gliding doors made from 1982 on.
• Roller adjustment. Raising or lowering the panel on its rollers. JELD-WEN's doors have an adjustment screw or an access hole at each lower end of the operating panel, sometimes under a small plug. The direction of turn differs between door lines.
• Sill track. The track on the sill that guides the panel as it opens and closes. Andersen describes it as the bottom channel where the door glides.
• Sill track cap. Andersen's name for the part of the frame in which the rollers sit. It is checked for dents and bad scratches.
• Header track. The track in the head jamb that guides the top of the panel.
• Bumper. A hard rubber or plastic piece in the track that limits how far the panel travels when it opens.
• Anti-lift block. A block in the head of the frame. JELD-WEN names it in its professional-only procedure for removing a panel and does not define it. This site does not describe how panels are removed.
• Sill riser. A part some doors have. JELD-WEN says it prevents the operating panel from being removed toward the interior.

Locks and latches

• Keeper. The bracket that a lock latches into.
• Strike plate. The name JELD-WEN's vinyl door guide uses for the piece the latch engages. It can be moved up or down until the latch engages properly.
• Latch hook. The hook that reaches from the lock into the keeper. On some JELD-WEN locks a screw on the face of the lock sets how far it reaches. Other locks cannot be adjusted.
• Single-point lock. JELD-WEN's name for one of its sliding door locks. Its adjustment instructions describe a single latch hook.
• Multi-point lock. A lock with several locking points that engage into keepers.
• Shoot bolt. A bolt that extends from the end of a panel and engages a keeper in the frame.
• Foot lock. An optional lock at the lower corner of the operating panel, on the side away from the handle.
• Keyway. The slot in the lock where the key goes in.
• Reachout lock. Andersen's name for its gliding door lock. Andersen says it pulls the operating panel into the weatherstripping for a tight seal.
• Latch receiver. A part of Andersen's locking hardware. Andersen says it may need adjusting after the rollers are adjusted.

Seals, water, and glass

• Weatherstrip. A strip of material covering the joint between two parts of the door. It keeps out rain, snow, and cold air.
• Filler, or side filler. A trim piece that provides a weatherstrip seal for the operating panel. A side filler sits in the side jamb.
• Astragal. Vertical trim on one panel that bridges the gap between panels when the door is closed.
• Kerf. A groove that often holds weatherstrip.
• Weep hole. A term JELD-WEN uses without defining it. Its test for a clogged weep system is to pour a little water into the sill track and see whether it drains out through the weep hole. It lists a clogged weep system as a cause of water leaking through the door.
• Insulating glass assembly. A term JELD-WEN uses without defining it, for the glass that is replaced when a seal fails. It attributes moisture between the panes to a failed seal.
• Boot-glaze. A way of setting glass into a panel with a rubber-like gasket.
• Clad. Aluminum or vinyl applied to the outside of a door.

Where these words come up

• Rollers, roller adjustment, and tandem rollers: the roller repair page.
• Sill track, sill track cap, and header track: the track repair page.
• Reveal, check stile, and level, plumb, and square: the alignment page.
• Keeper, latch hook, and strike plate: the lock and handle page.
• The glass in a whole replacement door: the Dallas sliding door replacement guide.
• Weep holes, rollers, and the strike plate on one maker's doors, as that maker's own care and adjustment sheets name them: the Milgard sliding patio door guide.

Two guides use these terms to describe a symptom: a door that jumps off the track and a door that grinds. The cost factors guide uses them to explain a quote.

To ask about a repair in Plano, Allen, McKinney, or Frisco, describe the door on the contact page. You do not need the right word for the part. A photograph and a plain description are enough.