Sliding glass door repair in Phoenix
We repair sliding glass doors across the Phoenix metro: rollers, track, glass, latches and screen doors. Most sliders that have stopped working are a roller or track problem rather than a glass problem, and we carry the common rollers on the trucks.
Call (602) 777-3717, Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm.
What is your door doing?
- It drags, or takes two hands. Worn rollers, or grit packed into the track. This is the most common call we get.
- It rides up and down as it moves, or jumps the track. The track itself is damaged, usually flattened or split along the top edge.
- The glass is cracked, or fogged between the panes. Door glass is a separate job from the hardware, and door glass has to be safety glazing.
- It won’t lock, or you have to lift the door to get the latch to catch. Usually the door has dropped on its rollers and the latch no longer lines up with the keeper.
- The screen door is off, torn, or won’t roll. Screen rollers are smaller and separate from the door rollers.
- There’s a gap at the top or the door is visibly out of square. Rollers have collapsed unevenly, or the frame has moved.
Send a photo of the bottom rail and the track through the quote form and we can usually tell you which of these you have before anyone comes out.
Arcadia doors
If you’ve been quoted for an “Arcadia door”, that’s a sliding patio door. The name comes from the Arcadia neighborhood here in Phoenix, where the style went up in volume in the 1950s and 60s, and it stuck as the local word for the whole category. Anywhere else in the country it’s just a slider.
It matters for one practical reason. A lot of genuine mid-century Arcadia doors are still in service in Arcadia, Scottsdale and central Phoenix, and their hardware is long out of production. Those are the jobs where roller sourcing gets difficult, and where a track cap often beats trying to find original parts.
Rollers
A sliding door hangs its whole weight on two roller assemblies at the bottom rail. Each one sits in a housing with an adjustment screw that raises and lowers that corner of the door.
They fail here for a specific reason: grit. Phoenix dust and decomposed granite blow into the track, the rollers grind it against the steel, and the wheel and the track wear each other down together. That’s why a door that has been dragging for a year often needs both the rollers and the track, and why a door caught early often only needs rollers.
There are hundreds of roller assemblies across manufacturers and door ages, differing in wheel diameter, housing width, mounting position and whether they’re single or tandem. We carry the most common patio door and sliding window rollers on the trucks, which is why a lot of these finish on the first visit. Older and discontinued doors take longer because the part has to be identified and sourced.
One thing worth knowing: if your door has been adjusted all the way up on both screws to stop it dragging, the rollers are already at the end of their travel. Adjustment isn’t a repair at that point, it’s the last thing before the rollers give out.
Track
The track is the steel or aluminum rail the rollers run on. Once it’s worn into a groove, or the top edge has split or curled, new rollers will not fix the door because the rollers are riding on a damaged surface.
The usual fix elsewhere is replacing the whole door frame. We restore the track instead by fitting a new steel track cap over the damaged rail. The cap gives the rollers a clean, hard, flat surface to run on, and it goes in without pulling the frame out of the wall or touching the stucco. On a door that’s otherwise sound, it’s the difference between a repair and a replacement.
Door glass
Sliding door glass is a hazardous location under building code, so it has to be safety glazing. That means tempered or laminated, not ordinary annealed glass, regardless of the door’s age.
The distinction matters for how fast you get the door back:
- Tempered cannot be cut, drilled or notched after heat treatment. It’s fabricated to your exact measurement and ordered in.
- Laminated meets the same safety requirement and can be cut on site. Our glaziers carry clear and bronze laminated on the trucks, which is often how a door goes back into service the same day.
If the door is dual pane and it’s fogged rather than broken, the seal has failed and the insulated unit gets replaced. Most sliding doors are standard sizes, but glass thickness varies between manufacturers, so the unit is still measured rather than assumed. Custom insulated units are fabricated in Phoenix and come back in five to seven days.
When a slider should be replaced instead of repaired
We’d rather repair it, and usually that’s the honest answer. There are three cases where it isn’t.
A frame that’s corroded through at the sill won’t hold a track cap or new glass properly. A door that’s been forced or pried in a break-in is often bent in the stile as well as damaged at the lock. And a door whose frame has moved because the opening itself has shifted needs the opening addressed first, or the new door will do the same thing.
We’ll tell you which of those you’re looking at when we measure. It isn’t most doors.
How the quote and the deposit work
A technician measures on site and you get a written quote. Nothing is owed before that.
Hardware jobs are usually done on the visit. When glass has to be ordered we take a 50% deposit and the glass goes on order, because it’s cut to your opening and can’t be resold. Stock sliding door glass and hardware are the exceptions.
Our warranty
Sliding door glass and installation carry a lifetime limited warranty on our workmanship, for as long as you own the property.
Common questions
Why is my sliding glass door so hard to open?
Almost always worn rollers, grit packed into the track, or a track that has worn into a groove. If both adjustment screws are already wound all the way up, the rollers are finished.
Can sliding door rollers be replaced without removing the door?
No. The door comes out of the opening to reach the roller housings in the bottom rail. It goes back in the same visit.
Do I need a whole new door if the track is damaged?
Usually not. We fit a steel track cap over the worn rail, which gives the rollers a clean surface without pulling the frame out of the wall.
How much does sliding glass door repair cost in Phoenix?
It depends on whether it’s hardware, glass, or both, and on whether the door is a current model or something discontinued. The quote is free. Send a photo of the bottom rail and we can usually narrow it down before we come out.
Does sliding door glass have to be tempered?
It has to be safety glazing, which means tempered or laminated. Laminated meets the same requirement and can be cut on site, so it’s often the faster route.
Who repairs Arcadia doors in Phoenix?
We do. Older Arcadia doors often use hardware that’s out of production, so tell us the approximate age of the house when you call and send a photo of the roller housing if you can get to it.
My door has fogged up between the panes. Is that the same repair?
No, that’s the insulated glass unit rather than the hardware. The seal has failed and the unit is replaced. See dual pane glass replacement.
Book a repair
Call (602) 777-3717 Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm, or send a photo of the bottom rail and the track through the quote form. See residential window and glass repair for everything else we work on.
