How To Board Up A Broken Sliding Glass Door

Prevent the door from sliding open by buying a locking device that blocks the track.

How to board up a broken sliding glass door.

If your home has a brick or stucco exterior the process of boarding up your windows will look a bit different. Instead of measuring a border that extends beyond your window you ll want to place the plywood on the inside of your window frame. Vandalism or storms often cause window panes to break. A broken window requires boarding up to protect the structure s interior from wind sun and water damage.

Use 4 inch barrel bolts to secure the panels and space them 15 inches apart. There are two different ways to board up your sliding glass door for hurricanes preventatively or as recovery. If you know how to remove the glass stops from the door you can remove the glass and install a sheet of plywood to replace the glass. If you have enough time to prepare your property for the incoming storm you can call an emergency board up company to cover your sliding glass doors and windows with plywood protecting the glass against wind damage and impacts.

To start your sliding glass door adjustment project first lift or lower the door on the track with a screwdriver or allen wrench. Or create your own device by cutting a length of wood such as a broomstick or a 2 x 2 inch board to fit snugly between the doorframe and the stile of the operable door. If you need to board up doors or large windows that are bigger than a single piece of plywood use a 2 inch x 4 inch board to connect and brace two pieces together. Raise it just enough to clear the track and roll smoothly.

Here s how to board up windows of wood framed houses. However patio glass doors are not invincible and can shatter in high winds or if they are struck with a hard object. Recently manufacturers of patio and sliding glass doors started using tempered glass in their products. Get them up before the wind picks up and turns these sheets into sails.

Since tempered glass is twice as strong as ordinary glass patio doors are not broken as easily as they once were. Locate the two adjusting screws at the bottom of the door on the face or edge of the door and pry off the trim caps that cover the screws. Windows with wood frames can be boarded up by screwing the plywood boards into the wood in the window frame. Make this feature even more secure by drilling a hole through one door and into the other.

I ve seen various types of boarding up of broken glass doors while working in the glass industry. For masonry houses see tips below. Each bolt s sliding shaft fits into a hole drilled in the masonry not the grout joint.