Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Aluminum Sliding Glass Door Removal

Recently I described how to measure your existing sliding glass doors so you can purchase the vinyl replacement door. Today I am going to review the steps needed to get rid of the old moving door before setting up the brand-new door.


Part one: How to remove the door panel

Initially, you have to eliminate the moving panel and the stationary panel. The large majority of doors out there have the sliding panel on the within half of the track, and the stationary panel is on the exterior. Whatever the case in your particular door, the outdoors panel has to come out first. To get rid of the set panel, you need to get rid of the sill cap that snaps into the bottom track and runs from the set panel to the side jamb where the moving panel locks. Force a screwdriver into the fold and pry the cap up. Then, look for screws on the inside side jamb holding the repaired panel in place. These screws prevent someone from spying up the sill cap and taking out the fixed panel in order to gain entry into the home. In addition to the side jamb, make certain to check throughout the top header and bottom track for screws there too. As soon as all the screws have been gotten rid of, you need to pull the set panel away from the side jamb. You can begin by merely grabbing the side rail of the set panel and pulling as difficult as you can. If you're lucky, the panel will pop free. Then you can lift the panel up as far as it will go into the top channel and swing the bottom far from the track, and eliminate the panel. Now, I said "if you're lucky", due to the fact that in most cases the panel will be stuck in the side jamb, the bottom track, or both. Generally, you're going to have to use a pry bar to loosen the set panel prior to it will slide out of the side jamb. As soon as the fixed panel is out, remediation of the moving panel is generally much easier. Simply lift up and swing the bottom away from the track, then eliminate the panel. Sometimes the bottom rollers will prevent the bottom from swinging from the track. If that's the case, you will need to find the roller modification hole in the bottom corners of the sliding panel. Put a screwdriver into this hole and turn the screw counterclockwise to bring the roller as far up into the bottom of the sliding panel as possible. This need to permit the slider to come out.


Part two: Remove the screws

Now, you want to get rid of all the screws from the side jambs, leading header, and bottom track. Then, take a pry bar and get it under the bottom track about in the center. Pry up until the track is separated from the floor. The next step will depend on whether your old frame is nailed to the house frame, or merely screwed in. If it's screwed in, then the frame needs to now be loose in the opening, because you eliminated all of the screws. You just have to get rid of whatever inside trim there might be around the door frame. This type of frame need to come out. If your door is nailed to your house frame, you will need to do a bit more work. Use a hacksaw to cut the track in half, around in the center. Start with either half and raise the cut piece up to the side jamb up until the the track piece separates from the side jamb. Do the very same thing to the other half.

So, now you have to remove the side jambs. You want to do this without damaging the exterior material that surrounds the door frame. Take a heavy sculpt and pound it into the fracture in between the frame and outside product, whether it's stucco, siding, etc. Start at the bottom 6 inches initially. Exactly what you are aiming to do is pull the nail fin away from the nails holding it in place. So, once the sculpt is pounded through the metal frame, pry away from the side wall. The heavier and longer the sculpt, the more take advantage of you will have. You will hear the frame "pop" without the nail. There will be several nails holding each jamb in location, so you want to start at the bottom and work your method to the leading corner. As soon as you get the bottom third loose, sometimes you can get hold of the jamb with both hands and pull the rest of the nails free as you go up. When you get to the top corner, work the jamb free. Do both jambs, then do the top. Often the top has no nails, or just one in the center, so it will come down quite easily. Be sure to wear safety glasses and a dust mask when doing this job, particularly when eliminating the top header.

Finally

Now you are ready to install the new door. The setup treatment is a little various, depending upon whether you're setting up a retrofit design frame or a replacement frame. We will discuss both treatments next week on chicago sliding glass doors.

1 comment:

  1. I really like the information provided in this article and I really like the way you have explained each and everything so well. Very well done with the article, hope that you will continue to do posting

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