- Service
- Sliding door repair
- Typical visit
- 1–3 hours
- Usually
- Rollers and track
- Estimate
- Free, price fixed first
Patio door service
Sliding Glass Door Repair
Four small wheels carry the whole panel. When they go, the door stops rolling and starts dragging — which is why it got heavy, why it grinds, and why the track underneath is damaged too.
Symptom index
Find your symptom
A dragging slider gets worse every time it is used, so finding your line here tells you how much time you have.
Needs two hands to open
Rollers have flattened or seized and the panel is dragging its own weight along the rail.Rollers
Gets easier if you lift it
Confirms collapsed rollers. The panel is sitting on the track rather than riding on wheels.Rollers
Grinding or scraping noise
Metal on metal. Every use from here is cutting the rail further.Rollers and track
Visible grooves in the track
The rail is worn and will destroy a new set of wheels within a season if left.Track capping
Track looks pitted
Corrosion from moisture and road salt sitting in the sill.Track capping
Will not lock any more
The panel has dropped, so the latch sits below its keeper. Usually no new lock needed.Height adjustment
Panel can be lifted out by hand
Anti-lift blocks missing or set wrong. A genuine security problem.Anti-lift
Cold line down the closing edge
Interlock gaskets have hardened and stopped sealing against the fixed panel.Interlock seals
Water on the floor in heavy rain
Weep channels blocked, so the sill cannot drain and pushes water inward.Drainage
Door frozen shut in winter
Water standing in the track has frozen. Forcing it is how rails get bent.Thaw, then drainage
Panel rocks or jumps as it moves
Rollers at different heights, or a guide at the head has come loose.Alignment
Screen door off its track
Screen rollers worn, or the screen track is packed with grit.Screen rollers
How it works
Two hundred pounds on four wheels
Everything that goes wrong with a patio door follows from how it carries its weight.
01 / The panel
Tempered glass in an aluminium or vinyl frame, commonly eighty to two hundred pounds. The heaviest moving thing in most houses.
02 / The rollers
Four small wheels carrying all of it. A wear part, meant to be replaced the way tyres are, and the cause of most patio door complaints.
03 / The track
A metal rail set into the sill. Once a roller collapses, the panel grinds this rail every time it moves, cutting a groove that destroys the next set of wheels.
04 / The interlock
Where the moving panel meets the fixed one. It has to seat along its full height, and in a Kansas wind a poor interlock is immediately obvious.
05 / The weep channels
Drainage beneath the track, designed to send rainwater back outside. Blocked weeps are why water ends up on the floor and ice ends up in the rail.
06 / The latch
Catches a keeper on the jamb. A panel that has dropped a few millimetres takes the latch out of register and the door stops locking.
Specification
What a slider repair should include
Patio doors are an assembly. Checking only the part you called about is the reason some repairs come straight back.
| Item | Status | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|---|
| All four rollers inspected | Included | Lifted out and looked at, not judged from how the door feels. |
| Track profile sighted | Included | Along its full length, for grooves, burrs and pitting. |
| Panel height measured | Included | At both ends, since a dropped panel throws the latch, the interlock and the seal. |
| Interlock seating checked | Included | Whether the panels meet along their height or only in the middle. |
| Weep channels flushed | Included | With water, to confirm the sill actually drains rather than assuming it does. |
| Latch and keeper register | Included | Whether the lock engages without lifting the door. |
| Anti-lift blocks | Included | Present and set, so the panel cannot be lifted out from outside. |
| Screen door assessed | Included | It shares the opening and is usually in similar condition. |
| Written fixed price | Included | Before the panel goes back in. |
| Replacement patio door | Not offered | If the frame has genuinely gone we will tell you, and send you to someone who sells them. |
Kansas conditions
What Kansas does to a patio door
Wind on the panel, grit in the track, and ground that moves underneath the whole opening.
01
Wind pressure on a large panel
A patio door is the biggest flat surface on most houses, and Kansas supplies more wind than almost anywhere. Sustained pressure finds every gap in an interlock, and once a panel has dropped slightly, wind drives rain and powder snow straight through the closing edge.
02
Grit, dust and road salt
Winter treatment comes indoors on boots and goes straight into the track. Field and road dust does the rest. Mixed with old lubricant it becomes an abrasive paste, and it is the single biggest cause of early roller failure here.
03
Clay soil under a wide opening
Expansive clay across eastern and south-central Kansas moves houses seasonally. A patio opening is wide enough to show that movement early, usually as a door that drags at one end of its run and not the other.
04
Freeze-thaw in the sill
Kansas winters swing above and below freezing rather than staying cold. Water in a blocked track freezes, expands and thaws repeatedly, which distorts rails and splits seals that were otherwise sound.
Workmanship
Five ways slider work gets done badly
Nearly every patio door we are called back to has had one of these done to it.
01
New rollers on a grooved track
The commonest false economy in this trade. The new wheels run on a damaged rail and are flat again within a season, and the second visit costs more than doing both would have.
02
Adjusting the rollers up to hide a problem
Winding the adjusters out to lift a dragging panel masks collapsed bearings for a few weeks and puts the door out of square while it does.
03
Leaving the drainage blocked
Clearing the rollers and ignoring the weep channels means the water that caused the corrosion is still sitting there, freezing every winter.
04
Oiling the track
Oil holds grit and salt against the metal, which is exactly the grinding compound that wore the rollers out. Dry silicone is the correct product.
05
Fitting a new lock to a dropped panel
The latch misses the keeper because the door has sunk. A new latch sits in the same wrong place. Set the panel height and the original lock usually works.
Coverage
Sliding glass door repair across Kansas
A mobile service covering the whole state, east to west. Pick your town below, or call and we will come to you.
Sliding Glass Door Repair Across Kansas
Questions
Sliding door questions
Q1
Is it the rollers or the track?
If the door drags but the rail still looks clean and smooth, rollers. If you can see or feel grooves, both. We check both at the estimate and quote accordingly.
Q2
Can a worn track really be repaired?
Yes. A stainless cap fits over the damaged rail and gives new rollers a hard, true surface. Taking the frame out of the wall is rarely warranted.
Q3
My door is frozen shut. What should I do?
Let it thaw rather than forcing it. Forcing a frozen panel bends rails and cracks glass, and the cause is usually blocked drainage that will do it again next week.
Q4
The door came off its track.
Leave it. The panel is heavy and awkward, forcing it back can chip the rail or crack the glass, and it will not stay on because the rollers have collapsed.
Q5
How do I stop it happening again?
Vacuum the track a few times a year, especially at the end of winter, and use a dry silicone lubricant. Never oil.
Q6
Do you work on three and four-panel doors?
Yes. On multi-panel doors the fault is often in a different panel to the one that feels wrong, so the whole assembly gets checked.
Related
Other repairs we handle
Windows and doors are the whole business, so whatever has failed, it is on this list.
Next step
Get the slider moving again
Free estimates across Kansas, with a fixed written price before we start.