Dear God, Please Help

by Colleen
(Van Nuys, CA, USA)

Photos are of (1) sliding patio door clearly missing both the interior handle and the external plate handle; and for reference, (2) and (3) are what the interior handle and exterior plate should look like (these were taken from the same style door) in a different room).

Here is what I've attempted so far:
SATURDAY:
Take photos and measurements of sliding patio door with missing handle.
Go to OSH for replacement handle.
Flag down employee for need help selecting correct handle.
Stand in patio door handle aisle for fifteen minutes waiting.
Become annoyed. Not impressed with selection anyway.
Drive to Home Depot. Note that selection is the same as OSH's.
Ask nice young man for assistance. Show him photos. Make selection based on his recommendation.
Drive home. Use the required buzz saw and flame thrower to open plastic packaging.
Realize in dismay that package contains interior handle only.
SUNDAY:
Drive to Home Depot. Stare at door handles and photos for fifteen minutes.
Walk around store trying to find employees. Capture one.
Listen to employee say he will send help to aisle 29. Wait in aisle 29 for fifteen minutes.
Become annoyed. Walk to front of store intending to return purchase and leave. See employee who made earlier promise to send help. Watch as he sees me coming, tries to run away, then realizes it will be too obvious. Asks me if I have found what I need.
Explain patiently that No, if I could find what I needed, I would not have asked for help in the first place.
Walk back over to aisle 29 with employee, who passes me off to another employee.
Listen to second employee explain that Home Depot only sells interior handles for patio doors.
Stare at employee in amazement. Ask who in the world would carry the entire set required to replace a patio door handle if Home Depot doesn't.
Stare in further amazement as employee refers me to Lowe's.
Return purchase in frustration.
Turn this problem over to my general contractor - who, after 3 months of trying to find the correct replacement, gives up in frustration and tells me I need to spend $3,000 to replace the entire sliding door.
Please, please, please help me, as I am NOT going to replace a perfectly good glass door just because of a stupid handle!

Hi Colleen;

Im hoping I can answer your prayers, but im no all seeing deity I,m just a window guy !

Thank you so much for the great pictures

I uploaded a picture of what I thought was the closest match to your handle. Need to know if the center to center of holes on your door is 4-15/16". From your pictures it looks like your hole spacing is bigger but its tough to tell for sure.

Your handle is probably 30 years old and discontinued long ago so the difficulty is finding one that matches it is as close as possible. One advantage is that your is a surface mount handle with the lock mortised on the inside right into the casing that goes around the inside of the patio door.

You can adapt surface mount locks more easily. So long as the new lock matches the old holes, so I really need that center to center dimension. If the latch part is a slightly different shape, you might need to do some minor carpentry to make it fit.

Hopefully its just a matter of drilling new screw hole locations in the jamb. But give that center to center dimension first. My email address is at the bottom of the home page at fixingscreens.com is you need to send extra pictures.