10 Reasons Why Your Sliding Garden Doors Aren’t Functioning Well

Sliding garden doors are a great inclusion to your home, providing an easy and smooth way to get to your outdoors.  However, with continued use over time, these doors develop some issues, such as being hard to operate, especially when opening and closing. 

Whether your door is failing to open or close, getting jammed occasionally, making a lot of grinding noises when closing and opening, or allowing air and water in and out of your home, it is the right time to consider putting a new unit of sliding garden doors.

• Common Causes for Garden Doors

Sliding garden doors look great in any home. However, they are not immune to various issues especially those emanating from old age or damage from harsh weather elements.  From dust and broken parts of the doors to the build-up of debris in the track, there are a myriad of issues that can come up with garden doors. The following are common problems with patio doors Toronto.

• Damaged And Dirty Tracks

This is a more prevalent cause of malfunctioning of patio doors. After a long period of continued use, debris, dirt, and sometimes rust accumulate on the tracks preventing the door from sliding normally. 

However, this problem can be easily fixed by cleaning the tracks using a brush and a mild detergent. If they are clean but damaged, you may consider getting new ones to ensure they operate smoothly.

• Misaligned Rollers

If the rollers are misaligned, opening and closing the door can be a big problem. Normally, the rollers are situated at the bottom of the door and facilitate the sliding of the door smoothly along the track. 

If they are worn out and damaged and this issue is not corrected, the patio door could eventually become stuck and hard to move. To correct this problem, find where the adjusting screws are located on the sides or bottom of the door, and adjust them until they are properly in line. However, if you find out that the rollers are damaged, you may consider replacing them. Based on the problem with your roller, you may consider reaching out to a door inspector to inspect the issue.

• Worn Out or Damaged Handles

If your doors are worn out and sometimes feel wobbly, it affects how the doors function and, therefore, your ability to open and close. To solve this problem, tighten the loose screws and bolts holding the handle in the right place. If the handles are worn out, you should think about getting new ones in order to restore the effortless operation of the handles.

• Weatherstripping Issues

If the weatherstripping is failing, this could be a big problem and affect the energy efficiency of your home significantly.  This is because air and water enter your home through these faulty weatherstripping. if you suspect there is an issue with the garden doors weatherstripping, inspect the entire weatherstripping to make sure it is the issue.

If that is the issue, get rid of the worn-out weatherstripping clean the area where it was installed thoroughly, and put in place a new one. This will definitely enhance the performance of your patio doors Toronto and consequently the energy efficiency of your entire home. It will also solve the issue of noise pollution in your home.

• Improper Lubrication

If your sliding garden doors are not well lubricated, that could cause the door to become hard to open and close. If this is the case, apply carefully a silicone-based lubricant on the rollers and tracks and any other parts of the moving door. Make sure that you clean the tracks prior to applying the lubricant so that the dirt and debris don’t accumulate on the tracks and rollers again.

• Damaged And Loose Frame

A damaged door frame can cause the misalignment of the door leading to poor operation. This is one of the door issues that’s challenging to identify, but inspect your doors for any direct issues of the frame, such as looseness or damage. However, for this issue it would be advisable to contact a patio doors Toronto replacement expert to inspect the door frames in order to identify the problem and fix it appropriately. If your garden doors are not well installed, you may need expert help to fix them.