I just discovered one of my four patio doors is not level/vertical. I don't think it's been that way all along but I'm not sure. It tips/tilts back 3/8" inch from bottom to top. See this illustration:
The question is how do you straighten these doors?
-- jim
The rollers under the door may be raised or lowered to adjust the door closure.
In the illustration you provided, you need to raise the roller on the back(left) of the door. If the gap at the top is really 3/8", there may not be enough adjustment to close the gap and you may need a combination of lowering the front roller and raising the back.
Patio door adjustments are always compromises; you may not be able to get exactly what you want, but you can get really close.
A tip--Lowering rollers is easy; raising them is tougher because you are using the adjusting screw to lift the weight of the door. Try a small pry bar or big screwdriver to lift the door slightly and take the weight off the roller while you adjust it.
I assume I must lift the door and remove it from the track to get to the rollers?
-- jim
I think I see how the're suppose to adust now. But, I don't hold out much hope for them moving.
-- jim
It looks fine. CW to lift. I think it's the lower one but don't really remember (or I only have one.)
I"m glad you didn't try taking out the door. They are really heavy and becasue the weight is unexpected, easy to drop and break into thousand of pieces.
BTW, sometimes the door is level but it gets hard to roll. You probably need to raise the door then too. And maybe spray some lube.
Our rather heavy patio doors slide open on wheels in the bottom of each door. The wheels run on tracks at bottom of the doorframe. Maybe yours are the same and wheels (or tracks) have deteriorated? Even when wheels in good condition doors may have to be adjusted to sit and slide level. It was quite an interesting job to rebuild our wheels and their mountings, after some 35 years, requiring a little bit of metal working skill. Although have seen 'kits' in a local building supply house. Any help?
No, there is a small hole in the frame, insert phillips screwdriver and turn but first take the weight off the door as someone else said.
Note: I just went through the same thing last year. Door had been a bit (not much) harder to close for a month or two. Turned out that _all_ the rollers were shot and needed to be replaced. It is a simple job to do IF you can get the door out of the track.
Open half way Lower both rollers all the way Lift straight up Pull bottom into the room.
The top will now clear the top track. It is best to have a helper for that and don't be surprised if the threshold has risen so the bottom doesn't want to clear the track. Took three of us and a good sized pry bar to get mine out.
Also there may be some method of preventing the door from being lifted up (burglar prevention). Common is driving a screw or two into the top top track. If so, remove before proceeding.
Harry K
The two screws in the picture
I can't see any way to adjust the rollers.
-- jim
Hhhuh! Then maybe there is another screw underneath the aluminum frame. I shouldn't have posted without looking -- hope I didn't cause you any trouble -- but use a flashlight and see if there is one hiding in the slot underneath, under the mud or whatever that is.
If you ever take the door out, absolutely have help. I didn't and I didn't break it, but I took all knds of precautions and even then, a mistake would have been easy.
I didn't have to replace the rollers the first time the door wasn't working well (20 or so years old), I just raised it, but maybe I will the next time.
Also, some people slide part of a broomstick on top of the door to keep burglars from lifting the door out.
FYI
I figured out how to adjust the rollers. The door's plumb now.
-- jim
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