Sliding closet doors are not only elegant, but they’re also pretty efficient and help in saving a lot of space in front of the closet. However, the sliding mechanism of the closet may sometimes fail, pushing the closet door out of the rails or preventing the closet door from moving at all.
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In that case, it would be pretty handy if you know how to fix the sliding door for a closet on your own, and that’s what this article is about!
In today’s guide, we’ll walk you through a brief tutorial with everything you need to know to fix and realign your closet’s sliding doors. Let’s dive right in!
Step 1: Gather Your Equipment
First things first, make sure that you have all the necessary equipment and tools in order to handle this repair project.
This doesn’t only make it easier to get the job done, but it also saves you the hassle of going back and forth while fixing the door.
Luckily, fixing the sliding doors of a closet doesn’t require a lot of tools. In fact, the most important tool here is a screwdriver or a set of screwdrivers, usually Philips, which are suitable for the sizes of the screws used in the sliding doors or rails.
If you have an electric screwdriver, make sure that you keep the suitable screw heads on you while using it.
In addition to the screwdriver, you’ll also need some clean rags and a cleaning brush. As for the solvent and the lubricant, we recommend using WD40 because it can double as both!
Some steps may require some extra tools, such as welding clamps for straightening the track.
Step 2: Remove the Sliding Door from the Rail
The sliding door will have a rail to which the rollers are attached. These rails are also known as “guides” or “tracks”, especially the ones at the bottom, and as the name suggests, they’re responsible for keeping the sliding door’s movements consistent.
To remove the sliding door, you’ll need to make sure that the floor keepers are removed first, which is a metal object at the bottom that prevents the door from sliding at an angle. If you have one, unscrew and remove it first.
Now that your door is ready for removal, unhinge your door from the rail by tilting it at an angle of 15 to 30 degrees away from the rails, then lift up with both your hands on each side.
Set the door aside by leaning it on the wall somewhere safe and place a towel between the door and the wall to prevent scratches. Fix the door by laying it on a carpeted area.
Step 3: Check the Top and Bottom Rails for Any Obstructions
Dust and debris blocking the rails are among the most common reasons why doors get stuck at some spots. This can also happen due to dried paint if you’ve recently applied a fresh coat.
To remove it, apply some cleaning solution or WD40 to a clean rag and run it over the track. You can also use an old toothbrush or a vacuum cleaner in order to push the debris out of the tracks.
Step 4: Check the Rollers on the Closet Doors
If the tracks of the closet are clean but the door still gets stuck at some points, there might be a problem with the rollers attached to the door.
Give the tiny wheels on the door a test run with your hand and see if they roll smoothly. In some cases, the rollers might have some broken parts inside.
Additionally, the wheel gets a lot of wear on a specific spot due to uneven rolling, which ends up creating flat regions on the wheel that make it very hard to move the closet door around.
To solve these problems, you might want to unscrew the rollers, buy yourself a new set, and attach it in place.
Step 5: Adjust the Roller Height if the Door is Scratching the Bottom Tracks
Sometimes, the rollers are functional but the door is scratching heavily on the guides, which is often the case if you’ve installed new flooring in the house.
In that case, you only need to adjust the height of the roller. This can also be done with a Phillips screwdriver by adjusting the screw responsible for it. Keep adjusting the testing of the rollers until they’re rolling freely without scratching noises.
Step 6: Straighten Any Bent Parts in the Track
If the sliding door gets stuck at some point and won’t budge, the problem is mostly due to a bent part in the track, which happens due to hits from a heavy object falling over them.
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to fix that. Put a rag over the track, then apply the welding clamp over the rails, and pull on them to fix their alignment.
Step 7: Lubricate the Rollers and Rails
Lastly, before attaching the door, make sure that you lubricate all moving parts to improve their performance and prolong their life.
To do that, all you have to do is apply a few drops of some lubricant like WD40 on the wheels as well as the tracks and trails.
Step 8: Reattach the Sliding Doors to the Guides
Lastly, reattach the sliding doors to the guides again the same way you’ve removed them. Simply hold the door at an angle of 15 to 30 degrees from the rails, then lift it up with both your hands to let the rollers settle in their tracks.
When the door is attached, give the door a test run and check for any problems that might need extra adjustment, the test run will also help the lubricant distribute itself when it should go.
Final Thoughts
With that said, you now have a brief guide that shows you how to fix the sliding door for a closet in simple steps.
As you can see, fixing most problems on sliding closet doors can be a relatively easy job as long as you have access to the right tools and the necessary skills to handle them.
However, if you’re busy or you simply want to leave the job to a professional, it should cost you anywhere between $50 to $120 depending on the complexity of the problem.
