Who is responsible?

busy_mom_2

I had an extension just prior to Christmas and now have lovely patio doors, obviously with the weather we have hardly opened them up till this week. Every time I have opened them I have had to get someone back out to re-adjust them as the locks are catching and they will not close. I cannot close them again today. The builder says it the manufacturers problem the they say the builders. Now neither will come out and I have doors I cannot shut let alone lock.

Any one know who is responsible for them?

phill99

It's who ever your contract is with.

If you contracted the builder to source and install the doors, then he is responsible. If it is a manufacturing defect, the builder has to get the manufacturer to come and sort it.

Stand your ground.

busy_mom_2

Managed to adjust them and shut them tonight, left messages and text messages for both the builder and the manufacturer, am I right in presuming a 12mnth guarantee?

I have been on the internet and found the instructions to adjust them so managed to do that myself, but this has now happened 3 times.

Bettie

You have my sympathies. I have the same problem with all my UPVC doors. Fine in winter, first bit of sun strikes them and I daren't open them as I know they won't close. I have had to remove one of the plates on two of the doors so I can shut them, I guess that invalidates my insurance and makes it easier to break in. On the other door I only needed to file the hole slightly to stop it catching. No one ever took responsibility and the years have passed and I let it go.:mad:
oh, one man came and adjusted the french doors once so it closed perfectly, come winter I noticed a fair gap where the two doors met so had to stuff it with rags, seems I can have one or the other

iamcornholio

Its whoever installed them normally.

The doorset is made, and aligned in the factory and its very rare for them to go wrong due to a manufacturing fault. Not impossible but just so rare

What tends to happen is the fitters put the frame in slightly out of square, and/or the doors are misaligned.

Another problem is that plastic doors are very intolerant of expansion, so as per Bettie above, the doors can fit one minute and not the next ... especially so when not fitted properly, and when they get hot sun and then cool shade

daveyjp

If it gets to a position where you can't close them spray them with cold water.

busy_mom_2

The builder came out first thing the next morning, explained about the heat etc. He showed me how to adjust them and now they fit perfectly again. he has said when the temperature drops again he may need to come back out, give him a ring and he will come back.

Fed_Up_Tradesman

That'll be the coefficient of heat expansion for PVC-U kicking in.

1.2mm expansion per metre for 20 deg C rise in temp for PVC-U

PVC-U windows & doors - rubbish aren't they...

Could also be partly due to badly fitted frames, frames not level and plumb, too tightly packed to masonry, frame fixers distorting frames, insufficient or no steel reinforcement in frames, insufficient expansion gap and not toe & heeling the doors too ...

Raksha

It could also be the weight of the door causing the thing to drop when they are left open for long periods. I have a stable door and a conservatory door which are both 'tricky' to shut. Luckily I have a second entrance, so I close the conservatory door from the outside (with a firm push from a foot to the bottom) and then come inside to lock it from the inside.

capeverde

If they are french doors rather than patio doors, I would suggest the problem is the glass was not 'toe and heeled' when it was installed. Builders may not know about this. You may be able to adjust the hinges to a certain point to rectify the problem, but you will reach a point when this stops working. There is enough tolerance in upvc doors to cope with all temperature differences, it is simply down to installation. If you google toe and heel you will see the process. It basically keeps the weight of the glass on the hinged side only.

capeverde

see here for explanation

http://www.malbernwindows.co.uk/trade/toeandheel.html