Screen Door wont come out of the tracks

by John
(Nowra, NSW)

I am trying to remove my screen doors in order to replace the rollers and replace the mesh, however I cannot get the door to come free of the tracks.

Logically I would have expected to loosen the screw at the top and allow the door to be lifted higher, thus allowing it to come off its track. However it does not happen.

Hi John;

Three things can make a screen door really hard to get out.

Sometimes the top track sags down on a patio door because the wooden framing behind it has settled or moved. Or the concrete slab that the patio door sits on cracks in the middle and pushes the track up. Or you may have rollers stuck in the extended position.

Sometimes I have to use a hydraulic jack with a wooden post to push the top track up by 1/4" to get the door off.

You can also try pulling on the center of the vertical rails very carefully so that the rails shorten just enough to let the bottom of the door pop out. Pull too hard and the door might bend beyond repair.

Once you have it out, you might find one of the rollers have jammed in the out position. You might even have to shorten the vertical rails by 1/8" to get the door to work properly again.

Hope this helps