If there’s a sliding door in your house, the doors operate via a track that enables them the ability to glide across the door. Tracks are found at the top, bottom, and sometimes at the side of the door frame. The tracks enable the doors to bypass each other for easy entry and exist. Bottom rollers carry the doors, with two channels on the top track that allows the doors to pass one another. Nylon top guides hold each of the doors in place, helping distribute the weight of the doors over the entire bottom panel track.
The tracks on the sliding door are well-built, designed to provide many years of worry-free years. However, there are problems that can cause the track to malfunction or otherwise work improperly, requiring a replacement in order to use the door again.
Broken tracks won’t open or close at all. Many of the tracks featured on sliding doors are constructed from PVC plastic materials that damage and become brittle over time, causing the breakage. Damaged tracks cause nuisance when using them and tracks that have simply succumbed to age and wear and tear are just as much of a headache.
Installation of a sliding screen door track may also be necessary if you’re installing new French doors or if the sliding glass door you’ve purchased for the home is without the tracks pre-installed. Although uncommon, some doors are sold without the tracks, but this isn’t a big concern since you can easily add the track.
Although a variety of reasons exist for the need to replace the track, it’s a simple DIY job in each case. The information below teaches you how to install a sliding screen door track using only a few tools you likely already have sitting around the house. It isn’t a time-consuming job, so finding the time to complete the job isn’t of concern.
In some situations you may be able to clean the tracks and avoid replacement, but this is only a short-term solution and the tracks will eventually need replacing. Before replacing the door tracks, use a sponge or cloth and a multi-purpose cleaner to remove dirt, grime, and other debris that’s accumulated on both the rollers and the screen door track itself.
Once this is complete, use a vacuum cleaner attachment hose to remove any remaining dirt from the track. Hopefully this resolves the problem and your work is done. If it does not resolve the issue, or if your door track is damaged or improperly working, use the following step-by-step instructions and learn how to install a sliding screen door track.