Terrace sliders, aluminium, uPVC
Sliding door locksmith Pilar de la Horadada, for terraces near the sand
The terrace door is a different machine from the front door: rollers, tracks, hook locks and multipoint gearboxes, all of them working in sun, salt and sand. When it will not slide, close or lock, it needs looking at as a whole, not just the handle.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Rollers, tracks and locks together
- Booked in normal hours
- Price agreed before any work
Symptoms
What the door is doing, and what that usually means
| The door | Usually |
|---|---|
| Grinds, or needs both hands to slide | Sand and grit in the bottom track; worn or broken rollers. |
| Closes, but the handle will not lock | The hook misses its keep because the leaf has dropped or the frame has moved. |
| Locks only if you lift or push it | Misalignment; the lock is fine, the door is not sitting where it should. |
| Handle turns freely | Broken spindle or gearbox inside the leaf. |
| Key will not turn in a hinged uPVC door | The multipoint is under strain from a dropped door, or its cylinder is worn. |
A short video of the door being opened and closed, sent on WhatsApp, often tells us which of these it is before anyone arrives.
By the coast
Between the sand and the pines
Pilar de la Horadada has four kilometres of coast, from Mil Palmeras in the north to El Mojón on the Murcia line, with Las Higuericas and the beaches of La Torre in between, and the terrace doors of the bungalows and apartments behind those beaches face the sea air every day. Sand blown off the beach settles in the tracks, salt air works on rollers and hook locks, and a slider that ran freely in spring grinds by September. What you can clean yourself, and when to stop.
Up at Pinar de Campoverde, about ten kilometres inland and 160 metres up among the pines, there is less salt and more dust and pine needles. Different dirt, same tracks.
And in the new homes going up across the municipality, sliders are fitted before a building has settled; a door that dragged after its first summer is often just an adjustment. More on locks in new homes.
Yourself
What is safe to do yourself, and what is not
Worth doing
- Vacuum the bottom track and wipe it with a damp cloth.
- Clear the drainage slots at the foot of the frame.
- A dry silicone spray on the hook lock, not oil.
Better left
- Forcing a handle that will not drop.
- Lifting a heavy leaf off its rail.
- Oil or grease in the track: it holds the sand.
Front-door cylinders belong to lock changes. A slider that was forced from outside is a job for the break-in page. If you are shut out on the terrace side, how doors are opened applies. Photos and videos can go through WhatsApp or email, and every part of the coast is on where we go.
Questions
About terrace sliders and profile doors
The slider closes, but the handle will not drop to lock it. What is that?
Usually the hook no longer lines up with its keep, because the leaf has dropped on worn rollers or the frame has moved. Raising or adjusting the leaf often cures it without a new lock.
Can a sliding door be made harder to lift out from outside?
Yes. Anti-lift blocks in the top track and a second lock or bar on the inside stop a leaf from being lifted off its rail, which is how many sliders are forced.
Do uPVC and aluminium doors fail in the same way?
The ideas are the same, the parts are not. uPVC doors usually have a multipoint gearbox inside the leaf, while many aluminium sliders use a single hook lock. Both are seen to.
The handle of our terrace door spins without moving anything.
The spindle or the gearbox inside the door has failed. Do not keep turning it; the door can usually still be opened from the side that locks, and the part is replaced.
Next
Worth checking while the van is here
Guides that point here
Send us a video of the door
Ten seconds of it sliding and locking, or failing to, says more than a long description.