Your sliding patio door is a convenient fixture of your home. It allows easy entrance to your home as well as good visibility, especially for open concept floor plans, breaking down barriers and enabling lovely views.
But patio doors, like all other parts of your home, require frequent care and attention to continue working as intended.
As a result, it pays to have a working knowledge of how the parts work (and work together) as well as where you can get replacements, such as repair tracks or patio door handle replacements, when you need them.
Patio Door Handle Replacements
The patio door handle is one of the most important parts of the door, as simple as it is. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to open or close the door!
What’s important to know here is that though there might be multiple styles of patio door handles that are compatible with your door, patio door handle replacements are not universal.
There are multiple styles, including mortise, clamp, flush-mount, and hook style handles, and lift and slide handles. There are also handles with internal locks as well as multipoint locking handles.
To ensure that a patio door handle replacement will work with your door, you must know what the footprint of the handle is, as well as the distance between the hardware that secures the handle to the door.
Of course, the best way to ensure you’re getting the right part is to get an official part from the same brand or manufacturer that is marked for compatibility with your door.
Sliding Door Repair Tracks
You know the metal track along the bottom (and top) of the door frame assembly, along which the door physically moves? That’s called the sliding track.
These tracks don’t literally break in the same manner as patio door handles themselves, but sometimes they can sustain damage severe enough that they need to be replaced.
This could happen for any reason but likely the most common is corrosion. Mostly made of steel, these tracks can rust, and when they do, it’s almost impossible to slide a door along the track.
Minor corrosion can be remedied with a wire brush and further damage forestalled with appropriate oil or lubricant, but in advanced cases, the track itself might need to be replaced.
Sliding Patio Door Roller Assemblies
Some patio doors also contain bearing mechanisms known as rollers, which are more or less just what they sound like – these are small housings that contain little wheel-like devices known as rollers that enable the door to roll along the track.
Sometimes, a sticky door just needs a new roller, and fortunately, in most instances they are easy enough to replace. All you need to be sure of is sizing. If it can fit in your door and the rollers are appropriately dimensioned for the track, you should be able to make the replacement easily enough.
Patio Door Locks
From time to time you might also need to replace your patio door’s lock. Sometimes, all you need is a special shot of a lock lubricant (like graphite) to restore lock functionality, but in cases of advanced disrepair you may need to make a replacement.
Like patio door handle replacements, there are many different styles of sliding door locks. Among these are mortise locks, which are probably the most common, along with double bolt locks, thumb turn locks, door loop locks, and track locks.
This is, however, only a snapshot into the types of patio door locks out there, and there are many others. If you need to make a replacement, you will need to make sure that the style of lock is compatible with your door.
Where to Get Patio Door Replacement Parts?
Whether you’re looking for a replacement lock or sliding track, or a specific patio door handle replacement, get it online at Window and Door Parts. The truth is, most hardware stores don’t carry the specialized parts needed to make advanced replacements, but Window and Door Parts carries a wide range of genuine parts from popular brands. Check out their catalog online and get in touch with them if you have any questions about parts, compatibility, or installation.