Aluminium · uPVC
The door between the flat and the balcony
In a city of apartment towers, almost every home has one: a glass door onto the balcony. When it stops latching, the flat cannot be left locked, and on a high floor that is more than an annoyance.
- Sliders and tilt-and-turn
- Hooks, handles, wheels, gearboxes
- Repair before replace
Why they fail
Sun, sand and a heavy pane of glass
Benidorm has a warm semi-arid climate with around 3,000 hours of sunshine and little more than 300 mm of rain a year. That is wonderful for a balcony and hard on the door that leads to it. Aluminium frames expand and contract, dust and sand settle in the bottom track, and the rain that would wash it out rarely comes.
In the towers along Levante and Poniente, the balcony faces the sea and takes its air directly. Add a large sheet of glass riding on two small wheels, opened and shut several times a day by guests who do not know its habits, and the latch is usually the first thing to go.
What we repair
Every part that locks, latches or slides
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The hook and its keep
The catch on a sliding door that should grip the frame and no longer reaches it.
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Handles that spin
Broken spindles and worn handles, replaced to fit the existing profile.
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Wheels and runners
A door that grinds or has dropped, rehung so it runs level and meets the frame square.
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Tilt-and-turn gearboxes
The mechanism in the edge of a uPVC door that drives the locking points.
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Keyed locks and extra bolts
So a flat left empty for the winter, or a lower-floor balcony, can be properly locked.
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Terrace and roof doors
Hinged aluminium doors onto terraces and rooftops, with their own lock cases.
High floors
Two things we ask you not to ignore
A door that locks itself. Some sliding doors will latch if they are pulled shut hard from the outside. On a balcony twenty floors up, with your phone indoors, that is a serious problem. If yours does it, we can change or adjust the catch so it cannot happen.
A door that will not lock at all. Lower floors and first-floor terraces are easy to reach from the street or a neighbouring balcony. If a balcony door has ever been forced, the burglary repair page is the place to start.
The front door of the flat is a different mechanism, covered in lock changes and repairs. Photos of the balcony door, one of the whole door and one of the edge where it locks, can be sent through any of our contact channels.
Asked on the phone
Balcony door questions
The handle turns but the sliding door does not lock.
On most aluminium sliders the handle moves a hook that should catch a keep on the frame. If the door has dropped or shifted even a few millimetres, the hook misses. Adjusting the runners or moving the keep usually fixes it without new parts.
The door has become very heavy to slide.
Worn or broken wheels, or a bottom track full of sand and grit. The track is cleaned, the wheels checked and replaced if needed, and the door rehung so it runs level again.
Can you add a lock that works with a key?
On many sliding and hinged balcony doors, yes: a keyed handle or an additional lock can be fitted. It depends on the profile of the frame, so send a photograph of the edge of the door.
Our uPVC door tilts open at the top but will not close properly.
A tilt-and-turn door has a gearbox in the edge that drives several locking points. When the handle is forced between positions, the gearbox or a locking point can slip. It is repaired or replaced as a part, not by replacing the door.
Do you replace the glass or the whole frame?
No. We work on everything that locks, latches and slides: handles, hooks, gearboxes, keeps, wheels and the adjustment of the leaf. New glazing or new frames are a job for a carpentry or aluminium workshop.
A balcony door that will not behave?
Send two photos on WhatsApp: the whole door, and the edge where it locks. The fix is usually visible in them.