How To Replace The Rollers On Your Patio Door

Have you noticed your patio door is getting harder and harder to open? Maybe it's time to convert the rollers on the door. They commonly last from ten to fifteen years but they do wear out and its a job that a do-it-yourselfer can perform with a tiny advice and some strong arms to get the door out!

Sliding patio doors are ordinarily aluminum but there are many wooden and vinyl models on the market. All of them use ball bearing rollers to slide indeed back and forth. The aluminum and some vinyl doors have a door bottom that is held in place by 2 screws on either side of the door near the bottom. Under the screw is ordinarily an open hole in which there is an adjusting screw to raise the roller up and down. The wooden doors often have pairs of rollers due to their extra weight. The adjusting screws are accesible straight through plastic caps exterior holes in the front of the door bottom.

Door Bottom

I mention the adjusting screws because you need to check them before choosing to pull the door out and replace the rollers. Slide a big flat blade screwdriver underneath the door on one side and lift slightly to take off the weight from the roller. Use an additional one screwdriver to turn the adjustment screw. See if that makes the door slide better.

Sometimes thats all thats principal but if the adjusting screws wont turn or are totally missing, you will have to lift the door out of its track and take off the large screws keeping the door bottom on and pull the door bottom off. Get help to lift the door out. Two habitancy are needed to safely handle even the smaller patio doors. The door bottom may not pull off indeed especially if the door is old. Check for any metal tabs that may be keeping it on and gently work the bottom off.

Some old aluminum and vinyl patio doors have rollers that use one screw both to mount the roller and to adjust it. These types of rollers can often be changed without removing the bottom of the door. Look considered at the bottom of the door in case there is room to pull the roller assembly out.

Wooden patio door rollers are somewhat easier to change, although the door itself is much heavier. The rollers are often screwed in to the wood door bottom. take off the screws, and out come the roller.

Some Vinyl patio doors are glued together. They were never intended to come apart. You may not be able to take off the rollers if you see no descriptive screws keeping the frame together. Also vinyl doors are often fragile with age and crack indeed as you try to pry off the door bottom. Take extra care if you have a vinyl patio door.

Once you have the bottom off the patio door it should be easy to see how the rollers are held in. Usually, removing one screw or bending a metal tab is all thats necessary. take off the rollers and take them with you to your local glass shop to get the proper replacements.

To reassemble all things start by adjusting the new rollers so they are up as high as they can go. You dont want them getting in the way when you reinstall the door on its track. Make sure you cover the roller retaining screws with cork or rubber if they come near the bare glass in the door bottom. If the metal screws touch the glass, it will crack.

Replace the door bottom, reinstall the screws that obtain it and lift the door back in to place. Succeed the instructions gave earlier for adjusting the rollers. You should now be able to see the door move up and down when you turn the adjusting screws. You will also be able to align the door with the frame using the screws. Your patio door lock may need to be adjusted to compensate for the new door height.

Try the door and you should be amazed at how easy it is to close. It should only wish a incorporate of pounds of force to open and close. No more fighting with a heavy door and you did it all yourself!

How To Replace The Rollers On Your Patio Door

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Replacing Your Sliding Glass Door Rollers

If the sliding glass doors in your home are more than 10 years old, you might notice that they are becoming harder to slide open. This problem is even more tasteless on aluminum frame dual pane doors. The presuppose is because the doors are heavier due to the dual pane glass, but many of the aluminum units did not use stainless steel rollers. So, in many cases, the rollers get rusty from moisture and they start to bind.

In order to replace the rollers, you have to remove the sliding panel from the opening. In most instances, the fixed panel must be removed in order for the sliding panel to come out. There is a simple way to decree either or not your fixed panel has to come out as well. If the slider is on the inside track and the fixed panel is on the covering track, you have to remove both panels, because the slider will only come out from the outside. There is a lip on the lowest of the track inside your house. That lip keeps water from advent in. Unfortunately, that lip is also too high to lift the sliding panel up and over. So, you have to remove the fixed panel first, then lift and swing out the slider from outside. If you are one of the few habitancy who have a slider on the covering track, then you can lift your slider out without removing the fixed panel.

Door Bottom

But, let's assume you need to remove the fixed panel first. Here is what you do: remove your screen door if you have one. The screen door will have two rollers on the bottom. Lift one end of the door frame with one hand while using a flat screwdriver to lift the roller off the track. Do that on both sides, then take out the screen door and set it aside. Now, look for a metal piece on the lowest track that runs from the lowest projection of the fixed panel all the way across to the lowest of the side jamb that has the door lock hardware. If your door is in fact old that piece might be missing. If you have one, you can pry it up from the track. It is snapped in place even though it looks like it is a part of the track. Once you have that piece removed, you want to look inside the house where the fixed panel is against the wall jam. Look for screws retention the frame to the jam. They normally have one near the top and lowest corners, and one near the center. remove these screws and put them where you won't lose them. Now, you should be able to pull the fixed panel out of the side jam. There is a very good chance that it will be stuck. If it is, grab the center rail near the lowest and lift up as hard as you can. If you feel the panel go up, pull it back down. Do this a incorporate of times, then try to pull it out of the side jam again. This normally loosens it adequate to pull it out. If it still won't come out, you will have to put a thin screwdriver between the fixed panel frame and the side jam and pry while a helper pulls the panel away from the jam. Once you get it free of the side jam, grab the fixed panel side rail and have a helper grab the other rail. Lift the panel up into the top track and swing the lowest out of the lowest track. remove the panel from the top track and set it aside with the screen door.

Now, you can try lifting the slider up and out, just like you did with the fixed panel. If the slider won't clear the lowest track, you need to do a incorporate of things. First, look to see if it's the old rollers protruding from the lowest that is preventing the door from advent out, or if the actual lowest of the door frame is hitting the track. In roughly all cases, it will be the old rollers. But, if the chance is 8' wide, sometimes the wood header that runs across the chance has sagged just adequate to make it tight in the center of the opening. If it's the rollers, you need to adjust them all the way up into the door. Look for a hole on the lowest side where you can put a phillips screwdriver and find the adjustment screw. Then turn that screw counterclockwise as far as you can. Do that to both sides, then try lifting out the door. If you are still getting stuck, have your helper lift one side and pull outward while you try to pry the frame and roller over the track. If you get one side out, have your helper hold that side with his or her foot to forestall it from going back in while he or she lifts the other side for you to pry free.

Once you get the slider out, roughly all rollers are held in place by the same screw that holds the frame corners together. So, you need to set the panel on one side, remove the screw in the corner, flip the panel over, remove the screw on the other lowest corner. Now, you can take a rubber mallet or the wood handle of a hammer, and tap the lowest frame off the glass. This will give you way to your rollers. Take a close look at how they are inserted into the door frame. In fact, it's a good idea to only remove one roller to bring with you to match for the new ones. Then, when you get back home, you can use the roller that is still in place as a guide to installing the new ones.

Places like Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace Hardware carry about 80-90% of the rollers out there. So, you should be able to find them. However, let's say this just isn't your lucky day, and you can't find your rollers anywhere. You are going to have to have them ordered. Bring the roller to your local glass shop. If you're lucky, they will have them in stock. If not, they can order the rollers, but you won't get them for about a week. Don't panic. Just go home and tap the lowest frame back on the door panel, but leave the projection screws out. You can even leave the roller out that you removed. Lift the door back in place, setup the fixed panel but don't snap the lowest piece back in, and don't setup the inside screws. Then, from inside the house, lift the slider and pull it closed. You don't want to drag it if you left the roller out. It will scrape the lowest track. Just lift it adequate to take the pressure off, and close and lock it.

When Your new rollers come in, take all back out and setup the new rollers. Adjust the new rollers all the way up before putting the door back in. That way, the new rollers won't interfere with you lifting it back in place. Adjust the new rollers down until the door slides good and locks. You want to be sure there is an equal gap at the top and lowest when the door is about an inch from windup into the side jam. You can adjust the rollers to make this size even. If you can get the job done by a professional for or including parts, it might be worth hiring someone to do it. But, in high habitancy areas such as Los Angeles, it's tasteless to pay 0 in labor only. Then they mark up the cost of the rollers, and you could wind up spending 0 for a job that you can do yourself for about . Next week i'm going to tell you how to repair your broken or defective window glass.

Replacing Your Sliding Glass Door Rollers

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