Stiff patio door tips

lagi

I have sliding patio doors and due to loads of building work and dust they could do with a little service.

I plan to wash everything down and hoover out all the channels but wondered if i needed to oil/wax any of the parts that allow the door to slide from side to side. They do have a little runner a bit like at the bottom of a car door window to keep it from being draughty fitted.

Ebe_Scrooge

You've already mentioned the most important thing - make sure everything is thoroughly cleaned. Particularly the tracks / runners and the little wheels that run along the runners.

Then some lubrication would probably help. Two options are WD40 or plain simple Vaseline. The problem here is that over time, these will collect muck & dust, and eventually gunge everything up. What I tend to use is graphite powder. You can buy this in most hardware stores, but for a real MSE alternative, use a penknife to scrape some "lead" from a pencil. The "lead" is actually graphite, so you end up with a little pile of graphite powder. It's a bit of a hassle scraping a decent amount from a pencil, though, and a small pot of the stuff is not expensive from the shops.

cajef

Use Silicone spray on patio door runners, it lubricates without leaving an oily mess or residue.