The sliding glass door is the opening South Florida houses are built around, and it is the opening that fails first. The rollers grind, the lock misses the keeper, the sill holds water, and the glass is still a single pane of non-impact aluminum from the year the house was built. Replacing that door is not the same decision as picking a style in a showroom. The buyer's guide is about which impact slider to live with. This is about the replacement itself: when the old door should come out, and what a complete job includes.
If the door is not impact-rated, it is the largest unprotected hole in the envelope on most lanai plans. Doing every window and leaving that slider is the expensive way to stay unprotected. The sliding glass door page is the product. Door replacement is the service. Both start with a measure of the existing frame, the buck, and the floor on either side.
Signs the door should be replaced, not adjusted
Some sliders only need rollers, a track cleaning, and a lock adjustment. We would rather tell you that than sell a door. Replacement is the right conversation when the frame is corroded, the sill is rotten or permanently ponding, the glass is not laminated impact glass, the panel is racked so it will not sit on the lock, or the size is so far out of square that new rollers only buy a season. Cloudy insulated glass, a breached interlock, or a track that has been ground down by years of sand are in the same category. Lubricant will not make a non-impact door into an impact door.
Water at the interior floor after a summer storm is a sill and flashing problem. If the water is coming under the track, a new panel in the old frame often repeats the leak. The replacement has to include the pan, the threshold, and how the interior tile or wood meets the new sill. On a house in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, or Boca Raton with a screened lanai, that joint is also where the screen enclosure and the door have been caulked together for years. We separate those details on purpose. The door has to be watertight even if the screen later comes off.
What the replacement includes
A full replacement removes the old frame, repairs the rough opening, sets a rated frame, and anchors it the way the product approval requires. In Miami-Dade and Broward that approval is a Miami-Dade NOA for that size and pressure. The panel count, two, three, or four, follows the opening and the way you want the stack to park. Pocket and multi-slide systems are a different product from a standard two-panel slider. They need a different header and a different budget. We will not describe them as a minor upgrade.
Custom Window Systems is one of the lines we use when the opening is large or the sightlines matter. PGT, CGI, and ES Windows cover the rest of the residential sizes we see every week. We are the installer, not the factory. The door you get is the configuration on the approval, including the lock and the rollers, not a residential slider with impact glass dropped into an unrated frame.
The day of the work, and the paper after it
The opening should not sit uncovered through a storm. We plan the removal and the set so the door is secured the same day. Interior floors get protected. The old door leaves with the crew. A permit is part of the job, and a final inspection closes it. If the rest of the windows are staying for a later phase, we still document this door as a protected opening so the file is useful. If insurance credit is a goal, remember that one new slider does not protect the bath windows and the garage. It does remove the biggest single miss.
Screens, if you want them, should be on the order. A door that was measured without asking about the screen track or the lanai beam is a door that may not accept the pocket you expected. Tell us about tile that is coming up, a new floor height, or a shutter that has to remain. Those three items change the sill.
Living through the replacement
Measure the daylight opening, not just the old frame, so the new door is not ordered short. A slider is usually the door the family actually uses. Plan on that path being closed for the workday, and on furniture near the opening being moved back before we arrive. Pets and small children need another way around the house while the panel is out. If the lanai is the only exit from a bedroom, tell us, because the order of rooms changes. After the door is in, the rollers may need a second adjustment once the house has gone through a few hot afternoons. That is normal on a heavy impact panel. What is not normal is a lock that never lines up, or water under the track on the first rain. Both of those belong on a punch list while the permit is still open, not six months later when the inspection is already closed.
If the slider is the opening you actually want priced, request a free estimate or call (754) 600-4876. We measure from 3000 Stirling Rd in Hollywood.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I replace only the sliding panel and keep the old frame?
Sometimes, if the frame is sound, square, and approved for an impact panel. If the sill leaks, the frame is corroded, or the original door was never impact-rated, a panel swap does not fix the opening.
Is the slider more important than the windows?
It is often the largest opening, so it is the one that matters most per dollar if you have to phase the work. Whole-home opening protection still means the other glazed openings get done too.
Do I need a permit to replace a sliding glass door?
Yes, in the South Florida cities we work in. The permit should list the product approval for that size, and a final inspection should close it.
Will a new slider stop water from the lanai?
A properly panned and flashed sill stops water through the door opening. It does not fix a lanai slope or a screen enclosure that is dumping water against the house. Those are separate conditions.