Sliding Doors Locks

What You Need to Know About Sliding Doors Locks

Large glass sliding doors are a great addition to your home to let in more natural light, provide picturesque views of your yard and allow easy access to a porch or patio. As great as sliding doors are, though, they are also potential hazards in your home because they tend to attract thieves. The large glass panes and flimsy locks can easily be broken into.

If you have sliding doors, it’s best to invest in a high-quality sliding door lock in Toronto, Ontario to keep your home safe. And no matter what kind of lock you have, there are a few ways you can make your doors even more secure.

The importance of having locks on your sliding doors

You might be thinking, “Why is it so important to lock my sliding doors?” Usually, these doors are on a balcony or porch in the backyard and hidden from view. This doesn’t mean a burglar won’t try to enter through them, though.

Locking your sliding door can protect you against theft, as long as the lock is strong. Sliding doors are very easy to open and are also extremely quiet, making them the perfect target for burglars or other wrongdoers.

Adding locks to sliding doors also helps protect children. These doors are easy for children to push open, even if they are too short to open a standard door. Locks can help prevent kids from getting outside and hurt on accident.

How sliding door locks work

Sliding doors open sideways along a wood or metal track at the top and bottom of the door. There are a few different types of sliding door locks in Toronto, but most are pretty flimsy when compared to standard door locks.

Most sliding doors have simple latches or clasps that lock the door in place by lightly latching it to the door frame. Unfortunately, these can often be jiggled open in no time.

Adding an extra lock, like a loop lock or cylinder lock, to the sliding door can help add strength to the security of your sliding glass door. These types of locks use a bolt that actually enters the door frame.

How to secure your sliding door locks

Here’s a closer look at some of the steps you can to take to secure your sliding doors:

  • Add security bars: These metal bars are placed in between the wall and one half of your sliding door to keep the door firmly locked in place. They are usually easy to put in and remove and don’t require permanent installation.
  • Upgrade the glass: Often, the glass on sliding doors is thin and easily shattered, making it an easy doorway for someone to quickly break and enter through. Upgrading your glass to shatter-resistant panes or adding a protective shatterproof film can help strengthen the glass against break-ins.
  • Replace broken tracks: If your sliding door’s tracks are warped, broken or old and flimsy, it’s time to replace them. Broken tracks can easily be manipulated to pop the door out and let someone into your home.

Is the lock on your sliding door flimsy or non-existent? Call Ontario Door Repair! We provide a variety of locksmith and lock installation services, including sliding door locks in Toronto, Ontario.

Emergency Commercial Door Repair Toronto

Emergency Commercial Door Repair Toronto

Toronto Door Repair 647-866-0956

Emergency Commercial Door Repair Toronto

If your office or facility needs to replace a door, you may want to do it Emergency Commercial Door Repair Torontoyourself. While it’s recommended you have a professional take control, smaller install jobs are doable. Here’s how a basic overview on how to install a steel commercial door.

There’s good reason why steel commercial doors and frames are so popular with businesses and facilities. Steel is as sturdy as they come, it’s fire resistant, and as an added benefit, their weight allows you to gear down a closer attached to the doors so you don’t have to slam them shut.

 

Of course, the benefit of steel is also its downfall, in terms of install.

Wood has a little bit of give to it, meaning you have more wiggle room to play with. But that’s not the case with hollow frame doors. That’s why exactness and precision are key to this process.

Before you even bring your door to the job site (if you’re a contractor), or install it, you need to paint it. After painting it, you’ll want to install a variety of components, including the kick plate, crash bar and lockset. If you’re a contractor, do this before you bring it to the site, so that it’s one less thing to worry about.

When you get to the job site, remove the old door and moldings carefully, so not to ruin the walls. Then you want to put the jamb in place (we hope you have great measurements). This includes more than just installing jambs. Each jamb (head, legs, etc.) needs to be fitted with fiberglass installation, and, preferably, some type of waterproofing membrane. Once the jamb is in place and secure, you need to install the hinge.

 

Once the hinge is on the jamb, it’s time to install the steel commercial door onto that hinge.

This actually requires you to remove the hinge from the jamb, and placing it on the door to locate the through-holes that have to be drilled for each sex bolt. Those sex bolts will be the reason your hinge remains secure on your door.

Note – if you plan on having a kick plate on the interior part of the door, don’t drill the last through bolt, or else you’ll drill right through that kick plate. You may want to use the self-tapping screws that the manufacturers provide you.

Once everything is all set, you can install the hinge back onto the jamb, then the door onto the hinge.

 

Now it’s time to set the strike plate.

Once the strike plate is set, you can make sure all of your work is tidy and neat, before you install the door closer and jamb weather stripping. Closers oftentimes have two adjustments, one for speed and the other for back-check. You’ll want to make some test-run adjustments until you’re happy with the door performance. The final step is installing the jamb weather stripping. After that, assuming you did it right, you’ll have a great, and long lasting, steel commercial door.

 

This is just an overview of what it takes to install steel commercial doors. We didn’t go into exact measurements, preferred tools and other specifics because that could take forever, and would likely confuse a vast majority of readers. The reality is, if you don’t have a background in construction work, you’re more likely to make miscalculations and errors along the way.

Let Toronto Door Repair help you determine what your best options are for installing your steel commercial door. 647-866-0956