The main difference between a sliding door and a bifold door could be narrowed down to the amount of space they require. Whereas with a bifold door you would need enough space on both sides just in order to get it open, a sliding door stays on its track and allows you for plenty of breathing room in your home. Problems arise when your sliding door won’t slide to open, but even those types of problems are fairly easily fixed.
Broken Rollers
If the rollers have been damaged, then the door won’t slide as easily. This is usually a common source of the problem and you could either try and fix it yourself or hire a trained repairman to fix it. Whenever this happens, your best solution is to replace the roller, right after a quick trip to your local hardware store.
Worn Down Track
The minute you hear that scraping sound as you try and fail to get your door to glide up and down the metal track, you know: the track is the problem. Sliding doors are quite heavy and they inevitably put strains on the tracks and in some cases even cause pieces of metal to come loose. Cleaning and lubricating your track every two weeks will avoid this problem and ensure your door keeps sliding for that much longer.
Damaged Door Frame
Opening or closing your doors too forcefully might cause some serious damage to the sill. The sheer friction will likely leave marks on the metal and stop the door from sliding. Any change in shape can be responsible for a defective sliding.
Dirty, Cluttered Tracks
Not keeping up with the necessary cleaning and maintenance might be the reason why you are having problems sliding the door open. Sweeping and wiping the track might as well turn out to be the very solution to your problem. If you happen to have some extra time on your hands, you can always take out the door, by simply unscrewing the necessary screws and brackets and swinging it out of the tracks. Once you have given the frames and the track a thorough clean, do the dismantling process in reverse and place the door back on the track. You ought to be able to slide the door with ease.
Broken Glass
Having but one shard of glass on the track might be enough to keep your door sliding. again, make sure you give that track a good week every week or so and each time really make sure that you haven’t left any sort of unwanted debris on the track. Vacuum cleaner nozzles and other accessories usually do a good job of getting it out. As an alternative, you can use a pair of kitchen gloves to pick up the glass pieces. The slip-resisting grip pattern will help you take out even the most stubborn shard of the track, so just keep a pair of either vinyl or latex gloves close at hand in one of your kitchen cabinets.