uPVC Door Repair in Liverpool

What does a uPVC door repair cover?

A uPVC door is a system of parts that all have to work together: the door leaf, the outer frame, three or four hinges, a multipoint lock with keeps along the frame, a euro cylinder, handles, weather seals, a threshold and, on most doors, a glazed unit or infill panel. When one part wears or moves, it puts strain on the others. A repair usually means finding the part that has moved first, rather than just treating the symptom.

Typical jobs we take on as part of our window and door repairs across Merseyside include:

• Adjusting or replacing dropped, worn or broken hinges (flag hinges and butt hinges).
• Re-setting or replacing the keeps so the lock hooks and rollers engage cleanly.
• Replacing worn or flattened weather seals that let in draughts and rain.
• Repairing or replacing the multipoint lock gearbox and cylinder – covered on our uPVC door lock repair page.
• Replacing a cracked, faded or damaged infill panel.
• Replacing the glass unit in a glazed door, which must be safety glass.
• Fitting or replacing letterboxes, handles and threshold parts.

Why is my uPVC door hard to lock or catching on the frame?

This is the question we hear most. A uPVC door leaf is heavy, especially with a large glass unit, and all that weight hangs on the hinges. Over the years the hinges wear and the door drops slightly at the lock side. Weather plays a part too: on hot days uPVC expands, and doors facing the afternoon sun can become tight in summer and fine again in winter.

The signs that a door is out of alignment are fairly easy to spot:

• You have to lift the handle hardThe hooks and bolts are hitting the keeps instead of sliding into them.
• The key is stiff to turnThe cylinder is fighting the lock because the mechanism is under load.
• The door scrapes the frameUsually at the bottom on the lock side, or the top on the hinge side.
• Light or draughts around the edgeThe door is no longer pressing evenly against its seals.
• Marks on the frame or thresholdFresh scuffs show where the leaf now rubs.

How do we repair a dropped uPVC door?

1. Check how the door sits. We look at the gaps around the leaf, the wear on the keeps and the condition of each hinge, and check whether the lock works smoothly with the door open.
2. Adjust the hinges. Many uPVC door hinges allow lateral, height and compression adjustment. Where a hinge is worn, cracked or seized, we replace it with a suitable match.
3. Re-pack the glass if needed. On glazed doors, packers under the unit help support the leaf. If they have shifted, the door can sag, so re-packing can be part of the fix.
4. Set the keeps. Keeps can be moved or swapped so the hooks, rollers and deadbolt engage without force.
5. Test it. We lock and unlock it several times, inside and out, and check the seals are compressing evenly before we leave.

Hardware jobs like this can often be done at the first visit if we carry the right part. Some makes of hinge or keep have to be ordered once we know exactly what is fitted.

Draughts, leaks and worn seals

uPVC doors use compression seals that the door presses against when it is locked. Those seals flatten and harden with age, and a door that has dropped no longer presses on them evenly. The result is a whistle in the wind, a cold draught at floor level, or rain finding its way in at the bottom corner. Replacing the seal gasket and correcting the alignment usually solves both together. For windows with the same symptoms, see window seal and gasket replacement.

Panels, glass and letterboxes

Unlike a composite door, which has a moulded skin over an insulated core, most uPVC doors have a separate infill panel held in by beads – just like a glass unit. That means a cracked, discoloured or kicked-in panel can often be replaced without changing the door. Our uPVC door panel replacement page covers this. If the panel includes a letterbox, or you want a cat flap, it is easier to have it built into a new panel than cut into an old one.

Glass in a door must be safety glass. Any glazed door up to 1500 mm from floor level needs toughened or laminated glass, so if we replace a misted or broken unit in a door, the new one will be one of these.

Is it a uPVC door or a composite door?

It matters, because the repairs differ. Tap the panel: a uPVC infill usually sounds hollow and feels like plastic, while a composite door has a thicker, textured GRP skin over a solid insulated core and looks more like painted timber. Many locks and hinges are similar on both, but panel and skin repairs are not. If you have a composite door, see our composite door repair page.

uPVC doors around Liverpool

A large share of the uPVC front and back doors we see were fitted to inter-war and post-war semis and council-built homes from the 1980s onwards, in places like Norris Green and Huyton. Many of these doors are now on their second or third set of locks and their original hinges, so alignment and gearbox wear are common. Rented homes in areas such as Walton often need doors sorting between tenancies, because a door that will not lock properly is a security problem for everyone.

What affects the cost of a uPVC door repair?

The main factors are what has failed, the make of the lock or hinge, whether the part is carried or has to be ordered, and whether more than one fault is being dealt with at once. A simple adjustment costs far less than a new gearbox or a new door panel. We quote after seeing the door, and our repair cost guide explains the factors in more detail.

If your door is still under an installer’s or manufacturer’s guarantee, check the paperwork before booking any repair, as work by another firm may affect what they cover.