I have several sliding tempered glass doors that were made with poorly designed handles/locks. Instead of having holes through which to securely bolt on the hardware, the doors have small cutouts into which which fits the entire handle. The handle is then held in place by tension/friction - two bolts (which pass thru the cutout) "grip" the glass with a thin sheet of cork between the handle body and the glass. I say "grip" because, of course, the handles eventually come lose, as any thief with 15 seconds of work would discover.
Since the glass is tempered, I can't drill holes. Any suggestions for what might work?
Many thanks!

 

Welcome to the forums! I'm not familiar with that type door, but some of the others may be. In the meantime, could you post a couple of pictures of the handle area of the door on a site such as photobucket.com and copy/paste the HTML code in your reply post? That way we can see what you see and may can offer some advice.

 

Thanks, Chandler. The photo is here:
www.bemnomar.com/door/door-and-handle.jpg

Note that the handle (out of the door in this photo) has exterior and interior plates which are squeezed together to grip the glass. (The cork sheet is also shown.)

 

The only way I can see the handle staying in place is to replace the cork with 3M double side foam tape, silicone or epoxy. Seems like a dumb design.

 

frank....I think the 3M trim tape or even better VHB tape used in aircraft and road sign assembly.

With what looks like no frame and the sliding panel on the exterior, I don't see a good way to secure them. Time to invest in a security system.

btw are you in Brazil?

 

You never really said why the hardware is off. Is it simply for you to analyze how it was mounted, because it was loose on the glass? Or did something about the handles or locks in them, break?

If it is because they are loose, then is your concern security? Are these doors the only way in and out? If not, do as anyone else does that has sliding doors and make yourself a stick about the length of the door (3 feet?) and wedge it between the door and jamb.

As far as RE-securing your hardware tight, epoxy came to my mind, also. Or the adhesive used to secure rear view mirrors to windshields. But then what if you had to take the hardware off for some reason, to work on it? I'd say to just use the gummiest yet stiffest (not like some foam that gives and would break down easily) rubbery type material you can find, and then block these doors at night and when you are away, and use the other door.

 

Clear Lexel comes to mind, Ec. You can caulk underwater with the stuff.