DIY plastic door hinge repair

In detail: do-it-yourself repair of plastic door hinges from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Plastic doors are made of relatively durable material and equipped with high-quality fittings. But with long-term use, as a result of natural wear and tear, the mechanisms begin to dangle, the seal loses its plasticity and cracks, defects appear on the surface of the door from mechanical stress, in general, we can say that the plastic door has broken. Many faults can be eliminated by making do-it-yourself plastic door repairs.

During long-term operation, under its own weight, a natural subsidence of the plastic door occurs. It starts to close and open badly - to cling to the box.

Restoring the normal operation of the door is carried out by tightening or adjusting the hinge mechanism.

The entire door is secured with two hinges. Lower and upper. On the bottom, it seems to stand, and the top keeps it from horizontal movements.

For the horizontal displacement of the door, it is necessary to turn the adjusting screw located at the end of the canopy on the canvas, just the upper hinge. And to adjust the web vertically, you need to tighten the screw on the bottom hinge

For more information on how to repair a plastic door if it does not close well, see the video

During operation, it is constantly subjected to increased mechanical loads. This results in a natural gradual loosening of the fastening screws. To tighten them, they must be removed or turned to the side, it depends on the design of the handle, decorative cover.

Loose screws are tightened with a screwdriver. The decorative cover is returned to its place.

Video (click to play).

The handle dangles on a plastic door, repair - Photo 1

This breakdown can occur when the connection of the handle with the core is broken or some internal element of the lock breaks down. To find out the reason, you need to remove or turn the decorative cover. Unscrew the fastening screws.

If the pin connecting the handle with the core is cut off, then you need to knock out its remnants. Insert a new one.

If the breakdown is related to the handle, then you just need to replace it with a new one. Tighten the fixing screws. Replace the decorative cover.

If it turns out that the lock itself has broken. Then it is necessary to remove the handle and pull out the core. Unscrew the fixing screw at the end of the curtain and remove the lock. Install a new lock and assemble the entire locking mechanism in reverse order.

Replacing the seal of the plastic door - Photo 3

You have noticed that there are drafts from the plastic doors. They are not eliminated by adjusting the position of the door leaf. So it is necessary to change the seal.

We buy a new rubber cord and good glue to fix it.

To restore the tightness of the door, the following operations must be done:

  1. Carefully remove the old seal from the grooves in the door leaf.
  2. Carefully remove remnants of rubber cord.
  3. Degrease the surface in the grooves.
  4. Apply glue to the groove with continuous tape.
  5. The installation of a new sealing cord starts from the corner. Lay it in one piece without stretching or squeezing.

Despite the excellent durability of plastic during long-term operation, small dents and scratches still appear on the surface of the door and frame. This significantly affects their attractiveness.

Repair of a plastic door - Photo 4

At home, you can repair minor damage with a special adhesive.For this area with scratches and dents, you must first degrease.

Apply a thin layer of glue gently. After it hardens with fine sandpaper, it is necessary to clean these places. After degreasing, the cleaned-up defects are covered with a regular or tinted varnish.

For more serious troubleshooting, it is recommended to invite specialists. Especially if the doors are still under warranty.

This site uses Akismet to combat spam. Find out how your comment data is processed.

Good afternoon. How to repair a plastic door on a bolkon? When closing, the upper and lower roller engages and in the middle 2 rollers do not engage and the door does not press. I checked the door frame, it is slightly curved. Here's how to fix it?

Plastic doors are deservedly considered one of the most reliable options for any premises. Despite this, even the most reliable door can break under serious loads, as well as during long-term use. Repair of plastic doors is quite possible. The complexity of the repair differs depending on the specific breakdown. Most often, the problems are minor and are eliminated by a small adjustment of the mechanisms, or by replacing the fittings. Repair costs are generally low. In addition, breakdowns are eliminated as soon as possible.

There are several typical breakdowns that occur most often. Such breakdowns include:

  • Problematic opening and closing of the door (problems caused by adjustment failure, in particular sagging and skewing of the structure);
  • Insufficient tightness of the door handle to the leaf, loosening of the mechanism;
  • Broken fittings, in particular: locks, other locking mechanisms, handles, latches;
  • Cracks and other damage to the glass unit;
  • Problems with the door seal;
  • The need to restore the canvas due to the resulting mechanical damage.

Each breakdown requires a specific approach to its elimination. Most problems can be fixed without resorting to the services of a wizard. Let's take a closer look at how the above types of breakdowns are eliminated.

In the vast majority of cases, problematic opening and closing is caused by a malfunction in the adjustment of mechanisms. The adjustment process does not take much time, repairing a plastic door in such cases is the most simple. Let's consider the adjustment procedure in stages.

First of all, when the door sags, as well as problems with its opening and closing, it is necessary to determine the place where the canvas contacts the frame. At the point of contact (displacement), a line is drawn with a simple pencil.

The adjustment is to move the blade to the side opposite to the place where the sash touches the frame. For example, if the door catches the upper edge of the frame, it is necessary to move the door leaf down and away from the point of contact.

Read also:  Bosch wff 1200 DIY repair

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

The adjustment is simple enough. The top and middle hinges have hex screws. Turning the key clockwise presses the canvas against the hinges, counterclockwise - unclenches them. Such repair of plastic doors is quite simple.

The bottom hinge is also adjustable. The screw, which is located at the end of the hinge, adjusts the web in the vertical direction, and the screw on the side - in the horizontal direction.

If the door is fitted with glass, adjustment is possible with a glass unit. For this, the glazing bead is removed, on which the glass is held, and then, with the help of a wooden spatula, the glass unit is moved to the side until the sagging is corrected. Spacers are inserted into the gap where the blade was. After adjustment, the belt should move freely. Upon completion of the adjustment procedure, the glazing beads are installed back, while they should not be confused in places. Incorrect installation can lead to cracks in the web.

It is very simple to repair plastic doors if the repair consists in adjusting a loose handle. The fact is that with increased loads on the mechanism, as well as with prolonged operation, the fasteners of the handles are often unscrewed from the socket by one or several turns. Because of this, the handle begins to hang characteristically.

The elimination of the problem consists in removing the decorative cap from the door and then tightening the dangling screw. The screws can be replaced if necessary.

Repair of a plastic door cannot always be completed without replacing its structural elements. If the locking mechanism breaks down, it is much easier to remove and replace it than to carry out repairs. Locking mechanisms can be purchased at any hardware store. Any other fittings, in particular, a broken doorknob, change in the same way.

Failure of a double-glazed window is a serious problem. The fact is that cracks in glass cannot be completely eliminated. There are special fluids for repairing cracks, however at certain angles, due to the refraction of light, the crack will still be visible. In such cases, replacement of the entire glass unit is required. It is very expensive to repair plastic doors with a broken glass unit, therefore it is necessary not to subject the glass to mechanical stress, to protect it from sudden temperature changes.

One of the main functions of doors is noise and heat insulation of the room. The gasket plays an important role, as it ensures a tight fit of the canvas to the box, does not allow sounds to pass through and retains heat. During operation, the seal wears out, loses its properties.

To replace the seal, you must first select a replacement of the appropriate dimension. It can be purchased at any hardware store. The old seal is removed, and the new one is glued to the door using special glue. It should be noted that the repair of a plastic balcony door, if necessary to replace the seal, is no different from the repair of any other PVC doors.

With prolonged operation of the doors, as well as with mechanical stress, various damages can occur on the door leaf. Plastic doors are repaired by plastic restoration. Such restoration is possible with the help of special compounds that mask damage. They can be purchased at specialized hardware stores. If it is necessary to really qualitatively repair plastic doors that have mechanical damage, it is better to contact a specialist. Only a professional can restore the door to its original state, completely masking all damage.

So, you can repair a plastic door with your own hands, having certain skills and knowledge. Some breakdowns are not significant for repair, and some should be entrusted to specialists. Carrying out repairs yourself, you can save money and spend money on something more necessary.

One of the elements of door hardware - door hinges, is one of the most critical elements of metal-plastic structures. It is they who are subject to the greatest loads, created by the weight of the door itself and by constant friction during the process of opening and closing the door. Therefore, higher requirements are imposed on hinges for plastic doors, both in terms of the material from which they are made and in the quality of performance by the manufacturer (casting accuracy, processing class, wear resistance, etc.).

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

Typically, this piece of hardware does not require frequent maintenance. European standards provide for at least 200,000 opening-closing cycles. So if you go out onto the balcony four times a day all year round, the service life of the adjustable hinges will be approximately 135 years. Quite a respectable period and, accordingly, reliability.

But, this is in theory and only if accessories from a reputable manufacturer are used. In the case of using cheap accessories (usually made in China), it is difficult to detect hidden defects and no one will give you guarantees against breakdowns.

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

If the door hinge breaks down or the door does not close tightly. To spontaneously open or close, the first step is to inspect the door hinges and determine the amount of work required. Either you need to replace the hinge in case of breakage, or it will be enough to adjust the hinges.

In most cases, overhead adjustable hinges are installed on balcony doors. Outside, they are hidden by decorative plastic overlays, which must be removed for free access to the hinge.

Most often, the destruction of parts of the adjustable hinge made of aluminum or zinc casting occurs due to hidden defects. But not only the failed element is subject to replacement, but the entire hinge assembly.

To do this operation yourself, you need to remove the door. This will require a simple tool: a hammer, pliers or wire cutters and a punch (core).

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

The algorithm of actions for removing metal-plastic doors consists of step-by-step actions:

  • removal of decorative overlays;
  • knocking out the axis on which the door rotates;
  • removing the door from the axis of the lower hinge;
  • dismantling a broken hinge;
  • installation of a new hinge.

Further steps to put the door into place are carried out in the reverse order.

It is essential that all actions to remove the doors are performed with its slightly open position.

Read also:  DIY Citroen Jumper Gearbox Repair

With the help of a hammer and a core, the axis of the upper loop is recessed with slight movements until its lower edge appears. After that, the lower end of the axle is grasped with pliers or nippers and pulled down. If the door is mounted on three hinges, the same operation is carried out with the middle hinge. The lower hinges have a different arrangement. In them, the axis on which the door rotates is fixed tightly. Therefore, you do not need to knock it out.

Having rejected the door a lot towards itself, it must be raised 4-6 cm up, until the axis is completely out of the cylinder of the door half of the hinge. The weight of a door structure with a triple glass unit, a wide profile and insulation can be quite substantial, so it is advisable to remove the doors with an assistant.

For replacement, it is advisable to choose adjustable hinges from the same manufacturer that were originally installed on the doors. This will prevent the need to drill new holes in the profile and the use of a template.

But if the cause of the breakdown is a latent defect or poor quality of cheap Chinese hardware, it is certainly better to replace it with more expensive, but reliable and durable hardware from European manufacturers, so as not to return to this problem in the future throughout the entire service life of the doors.

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

The choice of fittings for plastic doors is extremely diverse, but the best option would be to take a broken door hinge with you before going to the store. So it will be easier to explain to the seller which loop you need. If you order an adjustable loop via the Internet, carefully rewrite all the designations on it, and compare them with the information provided in the description of the product in the online store.

Hinge breakdowns are quite rare, so the main reason for poor door operation in most cases is their unbalance due to sagging under the weight of the door leaf, especially if the door is in the open position most of the time.

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

Adjusting the loop is easy. The only tools you will need are a screwdriver with interchangeable bits (cross + straight) and a set of L-shaped hex keys.

The design of all adjustable hinges provides for the possibility of their slight displacement (by a few millimeters) in three directions: vertical, horizontal and frontal.

If we are talking about the skewing of the door, which is determined either by the level applied to the upper edge of the door leaf or along the line drawn around the perimeter of the closed door and comparing the width between the contour and the edge of the door frame, then it is necessary to adjust the horizontal offset (the adjusting bolt is located on the hinge on the side) ...

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

If the door begins to close poorly and clings to the lower edge of the threshold, then you should adjust it in the vertical direction - raise it (the adjusting bolts are on top).

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

If the clamping force has weakened, it is necessary to check in what position the switch for the "winter-summer" mode is located on the end part of the door in the area of ​​the door latch and set it to the correct position.

Image - DIY plastic door hinge repair

Repair of adjustable door hinges, even associated with their complete replacement, is not a difficult manipulation from a technical point of view, but laborious due to the large weight of the door leaf itself, which needs to be lifted and held for some time. If you have the necessary tools and a set of door hinges that you want to install, it will not take more than 30-40 minutes. It is even easier to adjust the position of the sagging door.

If you are able to repair a balcony door with your own hands by changing the hinges for plastic doors, then you are a real home craftsman!

We advise you to read:

DIY LED lamp repair