Is It Time for a New Sliding Door?

As winter approaches, it’s essential for all homeowners to assess the trouble spots  when it comes to sources of cold air entering the home. Without a doubt, one of the biggest sources of cold air entering your home is any sliding door to the outside.

While sliding glass doors are a beautiful addition to any home, and are wonderful sources of natural light, they can also cause some serious pain in the wallet.

Think about it; sliding glass doors are essentially the largest window in your home, and since it sits at a height level with either the ground, a patio, or deck, it’s a natural area for the collection of snow and ice that may sit for weeks at a time.

While replacing failing sliding glass doors can be an expense, the potential for energy cost savings can make the job pay for itself in just a couple of winters. If you’re not sure whether it’s time to replace your sliding glass doors, take a look at these hints from Naperville-area sliding glass door company Carmody Construction.

Sliding glass door is difficult to open and close

The first hint that it may be time to replace your sliding glass door is difficulty opening and closing it.  Any number of things can cause problems with its functionality. They are:

• Improper installation can cause frame damage over time
• Broken or damaged rollers
• Misaligned tracks

Granted, many times these items can be repaired for less than the cost of replacing your sliding glass door. However, if a poorly installed sliding glass door is the issue, problems are likely to continue to arise even after a fix.

Sliding glass door is causing a draft

It’s usually not difficult to detect a draft in a large sliding glass door. Walking into any room that has a drafty one, you’ll feel a noticeable drop in temperature immediately. Drafts in sliding glass doors are normally caused by:

• Improper installation
• Settling of a home creating gaps around the frame
• Broken seals
• Failing insulation

While broken seals can be replaced, the other issues mentioned above are more serious and may require a full sliding glass door replacement.

Wood damage around a sliding glass door

Look around your sliding glass door. Are you seeing signs of water damage? In general, sliding glass doors don’t do a great job of shedding the rain or snow that hits them. By design, water is meant to run off a sliding glass door through small holes in a U-shaped channel at the bottom.

However, the small holes have a tendency to become plugged with debris or dirt, causing water to pool around the bottom of your sliding glass door. Water is the natural enemy of the wood that is used in home construction, and your entire sliding glass door opening is framed by wood.

If water is allowed to sit in areas, wood rot will occur eventually. If you spot rotted wood around the frame of your sliding glass door it should be replaced immediately.

Carmody Construction is a Naperville window replacement company, with several decades of experience in replacing sliding glass doors. If you’re in need of a new sliding glass door, call us today at (630) 355-0002 to speak with a professional and schedule a free sliding glass door replacement consultation!