Please help my stupid sliding door stay on track!

January 8, 2025 12:56 PM

My entryway has stupid sliding doors that get off track all the time. Maintenance shrugs and says it's fine. (It is not fine.) I think the problem has something to do with this, but I a: have no idea what it is called and b: no idea of how to fix it. Help, please? Thank you!
posted by 2soxy4mypuppet to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

The piece in your picture is similar to the bottom floor plate in this sliding door kit.

The vertical plastic pieces help keep the sliding doors in a vertical position. When those guides are missing/broken, the doors can swing out of vertical and can slip out of the track at the top.

Here is a similar piece from Home Depot available without purchasing the whole track kit.
posted by tronec at 2:17 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]

Just yesterday one of the plastic guides for my closet sliding doors broke (happens on a fairly regular basis) so I ordered this from Home Depot as a replacement. They delivered it today and I installed it with a screwdriver.
posted by SageTrail at 3:46 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]

Best answer: If it were me, I'd probably order just this part and install it to see if it solves the problem.
p.s. Your maintenance person doesn't sound very likeable.
posted by SageTrail at 4:24 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Here's a youtube video with installation instructions.
posted by SageTrail at 7:09 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you so much! I have the part on order and will install when it arrives.
posted by 2soxy4mypuppet at 6:50 PM on January 9

If the problem is that the doors keep popping off the track because of an issue with the track itself, here is a youtube video with a hack that might stop it from happening. I haven't tried this hack, but it looks like it could be a solution.
posted by SageTrail at 11:26 AM on January 14