Hello

I'm new at this and I need all the help I can get. My mom just had 7 sliding glass doors put in to build on a beautiful porch. It's great but I need help. The doors don't slide that well. They do but some stick. Also I can't line up the screens to the jamb so she can latch them. They do have those screws to adjust the screen part but stupid me doesn't know which way to turn them. my way of thinking is righty tighty lefty loosey..but with this project I don't know which way is which. ya know... the way the rollers go...up or down.

I'm sorry for being so stupid but I'm trying to help her..she is 79 and finally got the porch of her dreams...I just want to make it easier for her to pull open the doors.

Also the glass part of the doors...I need to line them up with the door jamb too. So ANY help you can give me would surely help me and my mom.

Thank you everybody in advance.

 

Turning the adjustment screws CLOCKWISE (righty) will lift the corner of the door. Along with aligning the door edge to the jamb, lifting the doors will probably help them roll easier as well.

 

Thanks lefty for replying. That does help me alot. I'm going to try to work on those today so I appreciate it. One more thing that goes for both the screen and the glass part of the door right??? I haven't attempted to pop off the plastic pieces that are covering the (whatever is underneith) on the glass door part.

Thanks again.

 

"Plastic pieces" -- I'm assuming that you are looking at little plugs that are about 3/8" in diameter on the inside of the sliding door sashes. Pop them out and you will have access to the adjusting screws for the sash.

The screen doors adjust just like the slider sashes, but the adjusting screw is on the outer edge of the screen frame. There might also be rollers on the TOP of the screen frame too. If so, you adjust them to put tension on the bottom rollers, once you have the screen plumb with the jamb.

There are probably adjustments that can be made in the latch of both doors, as well as the latch catches (in the jamb) so that they will latch properly.

 

Who installed the doors and how long ago were they installed? Were they like this from the beginning? A good installer should have made these adustments when they were put in.

An unpleasant possibility is that the doors were nailed off with the sliding section out of the frame. When this is done, the door can bind because the top of the frame has sagged a little and no amount of adjustment will fix it. (I have a slightly 'sticky' window like this).

If the installation is fairly recent, I would get the installer back to fix the problem - and get them to show you how the adjustments are made.

 

Well, there is always someone else out there that needs some information from you. First, I hope you get those doors all lined out properly. You are helping your mother with the porch of her dreams, well I am working on the porch of my dreams as well. You said she had 7 sliding glass doors installed. I am trying to decide between one LARGE double sliding glass door 12' or two single sliding glass doors 6' each. I was wondering if your mother thought of the option of double sliding glass doors and if yes, why did she pick the singles. I am afraid I don't have enough header space for one LARGE door. Any advice you have from building your dream porch would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Need Help,

The biggest differences between installing one 12' slider or two 6' sliders will be the header size, and WHO'S installing them!!

A 12' slider is going to have one continuous header, and it's going to be big and heavy. If you opt for two 6' sliders, you can do 2 rough openings, and 2 seperate headers. They will be smaller, as well as shorter, therefore easier to handle.

The same thing applies to the door(s). I can install a 6' slider by myself. At 8', I'm looking for a second set of hands -- I can't move an 8' slider comfortably by myself! A 12' slider and I will be looking for the offensive line from a pro football team to help me!!