Home Solutions - Sliding-glass-door woes
Arizona Daily Star
December 30, 2000

I have a typical sliding-glass patio door. Three glass and door companies later, the only solution to the minor chips in the track are to replace it, which is more than i can afford.

Any ideas?

Yes, indeed. Do business with someone who repairs sliding-glass doors rather than sells them.

We ran across Allied Glass Services (795-6054), which, unlike most local door companies, only services and repairs sliding-glass doors.

"All the competition wants to do is sell you a door," said Allied owner John Vickers. "I want to service what (customers) have.

Vickers, who has been in the repair business since 1981, also gladly educates people about how their doors work.

The average sliding-glass door lasts between 10 and 15 years, depending on how much use it gets.

When a door gets out of adjustment, its rollers do not work efficiently. Instead of rolling, they begin to drag and can nick and dent the door track.

Every time the sagging door rolls over damaged areas, its weight continues to deepen the dents. If the damage isn't caught right away, both rollers and track may need to be replaced.

Vickers, who services doors manufactured from the 1940s through today, charges $90 to replace a door's rollers and track. Track replacements alone cost $69.

(Customers who live outside the city limits will pay slightly more to cover transportation costs.)

Still, it's a smokin' deal, compared to the hundreds of dollars it costs to replace an entire door.

Vickers has a couple other observations for sliding-glass-door owners:

- Never, never lubricate a door track. It will just attract dirt, gum up the rollers and lead to more problems.

- Be aware that, when single-glaze glass sliding doors were upgraded to insulated models in the 1970s, heavy duty rollers were not always added to handle the extra weight.

The doors will work better with higher-grade rollers.

- If a sliding door is not locking properly, it likely means that you'll need new rollers to bring the door into proper alignment.

* This article was published in December 30th, 2000. Note that prices have and will be subject to change. For an estimate cost please call us at 795-6064 or visit our Estimate Requests page also located at the left on our navigation.