“Composite” Sliding Patio Doors
Composite sliding patio doors are “plastic” and, although they are very inexpensive, they can warp in the sun.
Composite sliding patio doors are “plastic” and, although they are very inexpensive, they can warp in the sun.
SlidersUSA, under the direction of Charlie Scott, formally an award-winning international engineer, trains and licenses contractors in the Midwest to provide the periodic maintenance required of residential sliding patio doors. This involves those pesky sliding patio doors that annually become more difficult to operate. Thinking they need new doors for thousands of dollars, few homeowners realize […]
Make sure the weather-seals on and around your sliding patio door are NOT painted. If the weather-seal is painted it will affect the integrity of the seal and the dried paint can be heard scraping each time the door is moved. Weather-seals encrusted with dried paint can be easily replaced. Also, you will notice that the […]
Investing in a good web hosting is essential when you have a business. With everything from regular hosting (such as shared hosting, WebFarm, or Perfect Hosting) to a dedicated server (VPS), it is very important to choose the right hosting service. It is important to consider a couple of things when choosing hosting: Frequency of […]
Our experience has shown that the elderly have more difficulty opening the sliding door to their patio or balcony than any other door they would encounter shopping downtown. That’s because all the downtown businesses conform to the A.D.A. requirements that specify no more than five pounds of pressure is required to open or […]
Experts will tell you little things are important to prospective buyers… A neat interior, clean carpeting, a nice kitchen and a pleasant aroma of coffee or cookies. But, there are less obvious areas that are often overlooked… home idiosyncrasies to which you have become accustomed can subconsciously be a turn-off to someone new. You wouldn’t […]
All sliding doors require periodic maintenance and cleaning. Each manufacturer provides detailed information about how their products are best maintained. http://www.steinerhomesltd.com/manuals/windows/jeldwen_vinyl_windows_care.pdf Unfortunately, home owners rarely take the time to access such information.
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 […]
Since a sliding patio door always rolls the same distance open and closed, the rollers in the bottom of the door make a complete revolution at the same place on the track consistently. Now, if over time, a ball bearing in a roller sticks at one point during the revolution, the roller will stop rotating for […]
In the winter, are you a bit chilly when you sit near your sliding patio door? We’ll be very happy to explain why. Over the years, weatherstripping around the doors can wear and the doors can become mis-aligned allowing air to seep through where the panels interlock when closed. Replacing the worn weatherstripping and aligning the operating door […]
OK, you just spent a fortune on new window treatment for your patio door and find that the door handle is in the way. No worries, low-profile handles are available for your door.
Cloudy Glass? There are a few small businesses, which have the ability to remove the moisture from between the thermal panes of glass in windows for less than $150 each. Using a special tool, they drill a small hole in the glass at two opposite corners, pump in some chemicals, rinse with a drying agent and plug […]
In the last decade, there seems to have been a large number of all-vinyl sliding doors installed in our area. Most have been manufactured by virtually unknown companies who sell to builders’ supply distributors for resale to independent contractors looking for a product they can sell for less to the consumer. Even some major manufactures have developed an all-vinyl line to […]
Maintenance reports verify that repairs to sliding patio doors within some room additions can be the most expensive. The main reason is that the typical room addition is too often not built to the same standards as the original home and will eventually sag, shift and sink enough to make any sliding door repairs difficult at best. When bare […]
Thieves love patio doors! Since most residential sliding patio doors lead to a patio, deck or back yard, they are a preferred point of entry for burglars. These patio doors are rarely visible to neighbors and street traffic as they are usually behind the residence. Also, they can be camouflaged by fences, trees, BBQ grills, […]
In the mid-1970’s safety glass became the required standard for all sliding glass doors, however older annealed plate glass still remains in some homes today and can be deadly.
When your sliding patio door was new, it moved left and right along a level track. But, now it sinks in the middle and on one end. The track is so low at one point that there is now an air gap at the top of the door. And, every time the door moves across […]
If your floor or carpeting gets wet near your sliding patio door every time it rains, there is a little maintenance procedure that might help. Your sliding patio door actually “rolls” on a raised center track. On either side of the track rail there are usually “walls” at least an inch high. An inside wall and an outside […]
A common situation with metal framed sliding doors occurs after a few years when the house has shifted slightly during settling. It’s hard to open. Metal framed sliding patio doors are designed to open with ease and close snuggly between fiber weatherstrips in the vertical channel on the jamb. But, if the jamb tilts just 1/16 […]
First of all, “sliding doors” don’t slide! And therefore, don’t need grease. They Actually Roll ! Built into the bottom frame of the door, there are two to four wheel assemblies with ball bearings, called “rollers”. There are over 300 different combinations of roller material, designs, sizes and styles for the various sliding doors that have […]
WHY DOES MY SLIDING PATIO DOOR SCRAPE AT THE TOP AND DIFFICULT (if not impossible) TO MOVE? When a new home is being built, an opening is often framed out for the sliding patio door assembly. But, before it can be inserted into the opening, a substantial “header” support beam is placed in the wall […]
YOUR HANDLE KNOWS… 90% of all sliding patio door handles are designed to only withstand the normal pressure of opening and closing the door when the door itself is in good operating condition. A loose or broken handle is the first sign that something else is not right. If you replace the handle without determining the underlying cause, which […]
Once the style and color of extruded aluminum framing is selected and precise measurements have been taken, the mitered components are delivered to the job and the screening jig erected for final assembly. The frame is pressure fit at all four corners. It is important that all corners be square. The frame assembly is complete. […]
If your solid wood core sliding patio door is in close proximity to a pool, pond, fountain, stream, river, lake, waterfall or ocean… it will eventually rot. It doesn’t matter whether your door has external cladding or not. The deterioration and swelling of the wood core is most apparent at the bottom frame of the operating door(s) and/or stationary […]
Some brand new sliding patio doors (usually solid wood core) have been found to leak air where the operating door interlocks with the stationary panel. This often does not become apparent to the owner until cold weather sets in. The reason cold air is felt blowing in around this interlock area is because the doors […]
Some sliding patio door systems have experienced the problem of rain water seeping behind the exterior cladding at the bottom of the glass. To prevent such problems, we recommend running a bead of clear silicone caulk along the horizontal seam where the bottom of the glass meets the cladding. If the water has saturated the wood […]
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 immovable stationary panel(s) of a wood-core sliding patio door system should be secured to the jamb, however, over the years, if not secured properly, it can work its’ way out of the jamb revealing an air gap. These panels are usually kept in place by angle brackets at the top and bottom of the panel […]
The majority of sliding screen doors have rollers (wheels) that ride upon a raised track rail and the door itself is merely held onto the track rail with gravity. Occasionally, there may be some spring-loaded rollers or devices at the top of the screen door to provide additional downward pressure. If the screen keeps popping […]
It can be a little chilly near your glass sliding patio door during our Midwest winters, so here are three things that could help warm things up a bit. 1. When your door is closed, the sides keep out drafts by being wedged between strips of weatherseal. Over the years this material wears down and […]
If you are feeling a draft from under your sliding patio door on those icy winter nights, it is likely that your weatherseal has worn away or been stolen by gremlins. The solution can be as simple as replacing the weatherseal for less money than it is costing you in heating bills each year. Here are […]
When new flooring is installed in a room with a sliding patio door, there can be a problem if the installers do not provide an “expansion gap” adjacent to the door track. This thin gap should run the entire length of the door track and is often concealed by a thin strip of matching trim, […]
It is not unusual for someone with a big heel to step on the composition molded track of a sliding patio door system and break off a chunk. Compatible replacement tracks are virtually impossible to find. But, alas, these tracks can be repaired in less than an hour and be twice as strong as the […]
Multi-Point locking mechanisms used on sliding patio doors have been manufactured by Truth, Marvin, Fuhr, Hoppe or a half dozen others. When the door is fully closed, the thumb turn latches at two, three or more points into keepers or around strikes in the jamb. Fifty percent of the time, maintenance issues with these high-security style locks can be contributed to […]
When the operating (moving) sliding patio door closes and locks, the other end should interlock with the stationary door (fixed panel) to seal out wind and drafts. There can be several reasons why this interlock may not perform as designed… 1. The weather seal has worn and needs to be replaced. 2. One of the […]
History Insulated glass, sometimes called by the old LOF trade name Thermopane, has been sold in the United States since the 1950s. Since then, the fundamental concept hasn’t really changed. Design Insulated glass still consists of two or more pieces of glass that are bonded to, yet separated from one another through the use of a […]
There is something you should know before you call a painter to spruce up your sliding patio door. If the operating door is not removed prior to painting, it will be difficult for the painter not to get paint on the weather-seal and this will adversely affect the ability of your door to keep out the cold. And, […]
At SLIDERS®, we take our responsibility to have a positive influence on the environment very seriously. 1. Our service vehicles are four-cylinder, regularly maintained and our appointments are scheduled to reduce travel time whenever possible. 2. When addressing sliding patio door concerns, weather-stripping and caulking are important areas of concentration to reduce air infiltration. Ignoring […]
The old, rusty and disintegrated weather seal has been removed from the bottom of this old wooden sliding patio door along with the rollers to be replaced. Tiny nail holes are drilled about every ten inches along one leg of two lengths of 1/16″ x 3/8″ x 3/8″ aluminum L stock. The other leg of each length is wiped clean […]
Caulking, when exposed to the weather for a number of years, can dry out and chip away. If you don’t re-caulk the outside edge of your sliding patio door track where it meets the cement, rain water will seep in and rot the wood below. As the wood softens, the track sinks about 3/4″, just enough […]