Multiple Sliding Door Problems

by Jennifer
(Pinellas Park, Florida)

I bought a house 3 years ago that turned out to be a pig with lipstick on it. The woman who flipped the house didn't bother to replace or fix the aluminum sliding glass patio door. I was wondering several things:

Can you can put a weather strip on the inner sliding door to keep dirt and insects out without removing or replacing the door?

The latch on the door broke and won't latch or lock. I found a new outside mounted door handle and mortis set that I hope is compatible but I can't afford it yet. It's a 3.93 surface mount set.

If the door needs to have the rollers adjusted, how do you do that?

The baseboard next to the left (non sliding door) is showing signs of water damage. I have a variety of caulk and sealants, including a cement type that I placed at the base of the door where there were cracks in the cement. Should I rip up the baseboard, see where an external leak is and patch it?

Bear in mind I'm disabled on a very fixed budget and can't afford to replace the whole thing so I'm trying to do little things that will make the door better. I want to thank you if you made it this far. Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Comments for Multiple Sliding Door Problems

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Aug 08, 2021
Rating
starstarstarstarstar
by: Adrian

"Can you can put a weather strip on the inner sliding door to keep dirt and insects out without removing or replacing the door?"

Most of the time patio doors have plastic fin seals called schlegel seal after the company that invented them. You first need a sample of the old because there are many many different sizes. A glass shop in your area might be able to sell you some short pieces or might be able to replace it for you for not too much

Its also possible to attach a standard door weatherstripping to the back of the patio door but it wont work as well as the schlegel seal and the door skirts along the bottom of the doors

The fact the handle set is 3.93 inch spacing is good because there are dozens of different styles you could substitute that use that spacing.

One cheap way might be to check the Re-Store run by Habitat for Humanity if you have one in your area. They might have a good used handle for next to nothing.

Caulking on the inside probably wont help much. Check around the outside of the door for cracks all along the bottom and up the sides where the door jambs meet the walls.

Weatherproofing is best done when the door is completely out and removed but making sure its caulked on the outside is next best thing

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to General Questions.