I have a job where there are two sliding glass doors that look a little funny to me. The moving peice of glass is set on the outside track and the stationary peice is on the inside. The customer actually asked me if I could swap them out so they could put in a dowel or a rod in the track for security at night. (as if its that simple) And thats when i noticed it. That, and the screen doors that I had just re-screened for them don’t glide right because the screen door handles and the glass door handles hit each other lol. Is this a normal design and they just messed up on the screens?
Walk away, just walk away. Tell them that you are not a door mechanic and walk away. I have installed several hundred such doors and there is something fundamentally wrong with the install. Tell them nicely that you are a window cleaner and screen repairer and let whoevever screwed this up fix it.
Dale’s right. There could be a hornet’s nest of problems when you start into a project like this and if you aren’t a carpenter you could be in for many headaches.
It sounds like the complete door assembly was installed backwards. Is the lock on the outside also? I would suggest they contact whoever installed it and have them correct it. Hopefully they didn’t install it themselves.
I totally agree. I don’t even take out door screens 99.9% of the time because something even that seeminly harmless has caused me headaches way more than once. It’s real hard to not be the hero, but being aware on one’s limitations is the definition of modesty.
We have some sliding screen doors here that have 4 sliders (2 are held still with clips to the wall) and the screen door is in the middle. on these I have to temporarily remove two of the doors in order to get to the screen door to re-screen it. I have enough experience that i might attempt to fix what you’re asking about. If the doors lift up off of the tracks easily enough to be swapped out then I’d say go for it. if it works it works but if it is anything beyond that then I’d walk.
Wow thanks for all the quick responses guys. Just to be clear I would never attempt to fix the sliding glass door. I just found it humorous that they even asked me. Im thinking why would you trust your window cleaner for that? Lol Anyway, what intrigues me most is what you said Dan that you rarely take out screen doors. I have heard a couple of guys say something similar. Along the lines of once you take them out there is a chance they wont roll the same. Does anybody have a clue why this is the case?? Coincidentally I had another different customer call me today and say their screen door wont move after i rescreened it and installed it for them. Guess im wasting gas tomorrow. Correct me if Im wrong but isnt it just bearings and wheels and a few springs? Drives me crazy!!
listen to them. I had a rehablation center that i had cleaned last week and it had 15 sliding doors and all of them were installed backwards. they ended up placing a fence lock and secured them together as a security lock. talk about tacky. it look so bad and very unsecure. so yeah walk away.
In my experience even high end doors will sometimes use crap screen roller hardware components. Bushings maybe, hardly ever bearings and they wear out in short order due I think mostly because they function in a dirty area, hence we clean tracks. Also the rollers are narrow and drop down between the tracks. Finally they are made of aluminium and will corrode easily even without the ice melter we toss everywhere. Then they can’t be adjusted when they do wear. If you are lucky like me you have a company right around the corner that specializes in door and window hardware, otherwise you’re stuck with a small selection at a hardware store or the big boxes. There must be hundreds of different styles and sizes. I have wasted hours trying to find the right one. I’m not saying not to try and fix this problem, just don’t think it will take five minutes and a $1.50 part. You might end up feeling like you have screwed yourself.
When we rescreen we always slide the door back and forth and have them do it also to make sure that doesnt happen. When it comes to sliding screen door rollers ome r metal some r plastic or nylon some r steel w ball bearings ome r steel w no ball bearings. We make all our own doors and use sliding glass door wheels as our rollers. Everyone loves them. Just FYI on trying to repair a screen door (not rescreening). But all other aspects of screen door repair PASS. There r to many different componet parts and 5 or 6 frame manufacturers trying to find the parts that go to it is a huge time waster. When clients ask if they can just replace the handle, spring , wheel or just the part of the frame that is bent I always tell them SURE. who made the door or where I can get that 15 year old wheel. I always sell a new door. I tell them if they get the parts I’ll fix it. That usually prompts them to buy,
Yeah I try to make sure the customer is there so I can roll the screen around too, so there are no problems later. But your all right, there is way too many different types of hardware to deal with minor repairs. I’ve learned that the hard way as well. Its just a headache not worth the money you can reasonably charge.
