After a winter or long period of being locked, patio doors can have problems when reopened. If the patio door won't lock this could be due to some small movements or moving parts that have been impacted by water ingress and oiling is required to free them up.
If you find that your patio door won't lock, you can try the following troubleshooting tips to try and solve the issue.
First of all check:
- Has the sliding door come off its track? The door will need to slide freely into place to be able to lock correctly. If you can't get the door back into its track, you may need to call a specialist.
- Is the lock being obstructed? Check the side of the door to ensure nothing is trapped or blocking the door's locks.
- Is it sunny or a hot day? Heat, caused by a patio heater, hot weather or direct sunlight, could cause your patio door to expand. Cooling down the door with cold water and a cloth would get the door back to normal.
Reasons why your patio door won't close
The patio door won't latch
If your patio door won't latch, pull the sliding door towards the lock and keep it in the frame with the door almost closed.
Put the door into the lock position and with a pencil mark on the frame where all the hook locks and deadbolts are, pull the door away and check the pencil marks line up with the hole positions of the keep.
If not you can adjust the keep position by slackening off the screws on the keep which are in elongated holes, adjust the keep position and re-tighten.
The patio door has dropped and won't lock
You can adjust the height of the door on its running gear by making small corrections in the rollers under the door. To do this you will find under the left or right side of the door small rollers. With a pozi (cross head or Philips) screwdriver adjust one of the screws visible on the roller wheels under the door.
Adjust one side at a time, using only half turns. If you adjust too far in one direction it’s easy to take the door too high or too low.
Keep doing this until your door is level and parallel with the track and all the lock components line up with the keep.
Please ensure you adjust both sides of the door will slide true in the frame.
The patio door won't lock or open
If the lock mechanism is difficult to operate you should lubricate all moving parts with a light machine oil such as 3 in 1 oil.
hen operate the lock mechanism from locked to open position several times to work the machine oil into the mechanism. We recommend doing this periodically to keep your doors operating smoothly and to increase the longevity of the locking mechanism.
If the cylinder is tough to operate apply graphite lock lubricant to a key, insert and work the key clockwise and anti-clockwise until the cylinder moves freely once again, this may need to be done several times.
One other option is to try WD40 which is not a lubricant but helps to reduce water corrosion which can occur when small amounts of moisture enter via the keyhole over winter. WD40, which stands for water diffuser, will help to free up the lock mechanism.
Once free we would then advise the use of light engineering oil to keep the parts running freely.