Sliding doors get sold hard, because a full door replacement is a big ticket. Most of the ones we look at in Hamilton need glass or rollers. Here is how to tell.
1. The glass is fogged or hazy inside
Wipe both surfaces. If the haze stays, the sealed unit's perimeter seal has failed and moisture is inside. The panel comes out, a new tempered sealed unit is built to the same size, and it goes back in the original frame. The door keeps working exactly as it did.
2. It is cracked but the frame is straight
A cracked or shattered patio pane is a glass job. Patio glass is tempered, so it either holds or lets go completely, and it is always made to measure. If the frame is square and the track is sound, nothing else needs touching.
If the panel has actually gone, we board the opening the same day and fit the glass when it arrives.
3. It drags, jumps or takes two hands
That is rollers, not the door. Grit and salt grind the wheels flat, and once a roller collapses the panel rides on the track and chews it. New rollers, a cleaned track and an adjustment usually bring a door back to one finger.
Signs it is rollers: it got worse gradually, it drops at one end, and lifting the panel slightly makes it move better.
4. The lock will not line up
A latch that misses usually means the panel has dropped, which is again rollers or adjustment. Sometimes it is a worn keeper or a broken handle. All small parts. Forcing it is how the glass ends up cracked, so get it sorted before winter when everything tightens up.
5. It is draughty at the edges, not through the glass
Hold your hand along the frame and then across the middle of the glass. Cold at the frame means failed weatherstripping, brush seals or perimeter caulking. Cold across the whole pane in January means a failed unit that has lost its argon. Two different fixes, neither of them a new door.
When the door genuinely is finished
We will tell you if it is, and we will not be the ones selling you the replacement, because we only do glass and repairs. The honest cases are a bent or corroded frame, a track that has been worn through, or rot in a wood frame that goes beyond the glazing.
What the fixes cost
| Job | Cost |
|---|---|
| Sealed unit, standard | $350 to $650 installed |
| Large or tempered patio pane | $650 to $900+ |
| Rollers, locks and hardware | quoted on the call |
| Caulking and weather seal | $75 to $150 per opening |
| Screen rescreen | $45 to $95 |
Patio glass is tempered and made to order, so allow three to seven business days after measuring. Hardware repairs are often the same visit.
Send us a photo of the door, the size of the glass, and tell us whether it fogs, drags or both. You will get a price on the call.