Plastic doors are a well-established competitor to the classic wooden construction. They are known to everyone thanks to their use in shops and offices, but there is a place for such doors in an apartment - they are installed in a balcony opening. Plastic doors are not so difficult to cause big problems for the owner. But, like any mechanism, during operation, they can also periodically experience minor malfunctions that require intervention. Adjusting plastic doors is a simple process, you can do this work yourself, but you need some knowledge to help you carry it out.
Malfunctions that occur during the operation of plastic doors
If the door closes tightly or a strong draft is felt from under it, this is already a clearly expressed problem that needs to be eliminated. It is not necessary to bring to this state, because the presence of obvious malfunctions leads to great difficulties in setting up, as well as to the wear of some parts. There are simple methods for checking the correct operation of the doors, which will allow you to determine in a timely manner whether adjustment is necessary.
Checking the pressure of the door to the frame
The condition of the sealing rubber will first of all “tell” the correctness of the door clamp. If it is crushed from some angle or its thickness has decreased, this is a clear sign of improper pressing.
In addition to taking measures to adjust the door, the deformed sealing gum will have to be replaced.
Method for checking the uniformity of door pressure against the frame:
- A sheet of paper must be placed between the frame and the door leaf.
- The sash must be closed and, remembering the applied force, pull out the paper.
- The previous steps should be repeated around the entire perimeter of the frame.
If in some place the paper is pulled out effortlessly or, conversely, it is impossible to remove it, this indicates the need to adjust the pressure.
Door sag detection
Sagging of the door leaf is possible, the presence of which can be determined using a level or a simple pencil.
- When installing the frame and door leaf, installers must use the building level, since all elements are set strictly vertically or horizontally. Using a similar tool, you can quickly determine the presence of sagging in the door.
- In the absence of a level, an ordinary pencil is sufficient, with which you need to draw a line along the entire canvas with the door closed. Then the sash needs to be opened and the parallelism of the line to the edges of the box must be determined. The difference in the width of the resulting strip should not exceed 2 mm.
Self-adjustment: tools
After identifying a defect, it will be necessary to adjust the metal-plastic doors, which, if there is a guarantee, will be performed by a called specialist. However, after the expiration of the warranty period, a waiting time for a repairman is required, which is sometimes delayed. If you consider in addition to this the cost of adjustment, it makes sense to adjust the correct operation of the door yourself. This will require a simple set of tools, including:
- pliers or pliers;
- two screwdrivers - flat and cross-shaped;
- hexagons - L-shaped keys with sizes from 2.5 to 5 mm;
- plastic gaskets;
- roulette.
pressure adjustment process
This process eliminates the gaps that have arisen through which the draft leaks.
Most often, the clamping force can be adjusted only by rotating the eccentric screws, which are located at the end of the door leaf. Near the screw with a recess for the hexagon there is a special mark - a dot in the form of a small notch, which helps to determine the density of the clamp.If it is necessary to loosen the clamping force, the screw turns with a mark to the frame, and when strengthened, vice versa, to the room.
Difficulties may arise due to the fact that there are usually three such eccentrics - top, bottom and in the middle. Therefore, it is necessary to act by experiment, turning the screws at the same angle. After each installation of a new position, it is necessary to control the result.
Please note: these screws provide good clamping only near the handle. In practice, there may be a need for additional adjustment near the canopies. In this case, the adjustment is carried out with hexagon screws located at the top of the two hinges (upper and lower).
Important! The design of the doors may differ, sometimes the pressure adjustment is carried out using a special pin, which is turned with pliers, to increase the clamping force, it must be placed perpendicular to the door leaf.
Eliminate horizontal and vertical offset
The door may deviate from the desired position horizontally or vertically. The adjustment in each of these cases will be different.
Horizontal web offset
To eliminate this defect, adjusting screws are located in all three hinges. Each of the screws is covered with a decorative plate, to remove which the door is opened and the fixing screw is unscrewed with a hexagon with a size of 3 mm. After that, the sash is closed and the lining is removed.
- If only the edge opposite to the hinges sags, the horizontally protruding adjusting screws on the upper and middle hinges are tightened. In this case, the number of revolutions for which cranking is performed must be different. There is more on the top loop, and less on the middle loop.
- For uniform movement of the entire blade to the right or left, adjustment is performed by turning three screws by the same number of revolutions.
Vertical offset
At the bottom of each hinge are adjustment screws with a 5 mm hex socket. They are responsible for moving the canvas vertically. In this case, to move up or down, you need to adjust all three screws.
Rotation to the right (clockwise) is to raise the door. Two turns are usually sufficient for adjustment.
If you need to adjust the strikers and install them in a new, shifted up or down position, you will need a flat screwdriver and a 2.5 mm hexagon.
When adjusting the main striker, if the movement of the striker is not enough, a Phillips screwdriver is required.
There are times when there is not enough screw travel to complete the adjustment. In this case, you need to "pull out" the door. To do this, you need to remove the plastic glazing beads and insert pre-prepared plastic spacers into the space between the profile and the double-glazed window, without applying much effort.
If the implementation of the adjustment process is not understandable, then it is better to call a specialist and entrust him with this work. In this case, you will have the opportunity to observe how a professional makes adjustments, so that if problems occur again, you can adjust yourself.
