Leaking doors ?

[Amamba]

Hi,

I have two doors in the house that leak. One is a side garage door, a simple aluminum frame door. The other is the basement patio sliding door. Doors are 18 yrs old. Both doors leak around the bottom corners of the frame in moderate to heavy rain. I suspect that the sliding door has a broken seal somewhere in the channel. I noticed leaks last year, and this summer went around with lots of caulking, but it didn't fix the problem.

My question is, is there a relatively simple fix (flashing, weather guard) that I can use to protect the doors from leaking ?

Also, can the sliding door (aluminum frame door that slides in a channel) be re-sealed, or am I better off just buying a new one ?

[m Ransley]

An aluminum slider is no comparison to a new quality wood , composite or fiberglass ,Low E Argon door . Little air infiltration and less cold througt the glass and frame. Aluminum frames are perfect to transfer in the cold. A new quality door can make a huge difference, I notice it easily.

[tom]

You might check for drainage holes/passages at the outer door frame base of the slider. These can become clogged. Tom

[Norminn]

We have old sliders, under a balcony so they are protected. Only time they leak is when I wash them. The rubber "glazing" meets at the top of the frame, so I finally got around to sticking a little silicone caulk in the space. If the wheels or the track are worn, there can be a gap allowing wind driven rain in - we just had repairs on ours which included putting down a new rail that snaps in right on top of the old track. Previous to that, there was about 1/2" gap at lower end of door between slider and the adjacent stationary pane - hubby used to have the satellite cable coming in the door until I nagged sufficiently :o) New sliders would be nice, but so would a new Mercedes :o)

[m Ransley]

Normin you are so typical, you would rather have a door that costs a few to many $ more a month to heat and cool your house and drive a mercedes The mercedes only goes down in value, new doors raise you homes value, shortsighted indeed.

[Norminn]

I was being facetious - trying to illustrate that new, triple width sliders (we have two sets) would cost a lot. We did get the opening repaired, after a lot of nagging on my part :o) At least you didn't call me a liberal :o)

[tom]

This is what happens when we don't use "emoticons". People just don't understand our "wryness". Izzat a word? Tom

[Norminn]

I thought that, of all people, Ransley would "get it". But, then, I should have said "Toyota Land Cruiser". :o)