Dry Lube your windows and door here in SW Florida

Here in SW Florida its important to maintain your windows and slider doors. We tend to shut our windows for 6, 8 10 months a year and open them only during the brief periods of cool weather during late fall and early spring. Our sliders are used every day. Open, closed over and over.

The windows will when closed for these long periods of time get dry and sticky. When opened the windows will bind and frequently this will derail the balance rods or bars installed. The balance rods help carry the load and center the pane. Slider doors are carried on very small brass wheels that roll on the aluminum tracks at its base. These brass wheels have very small bearings. This must all be clean and aligned to roll smoothly.

The best product I have found to keep both these items in good working order is dry lube. Dry lube is a power based teflon formula that does not contain silicone. It goes on wet but dries very quickly and its best quality in my opinion is it does not attract dirt and sand.

To maintain your windows spray all the tracks and any areas that have a metal to metal contact with dry lube and then open and close the window once. This will allow the lube to spread on all parts and keep the window free to operate for long periods of time. Then once a year or so, reapply. You will be happy you took the time. Your reward will be well functioning windows for years to come.

The slider doors need to be lubed in both the upper and lower tracks. Because of their frequent use reapply every couple of months. The dry lube will not attract the sand and dirt and help keep your bottom tract and your bottom guide wheels functioning well.

I’m including a link to a example product but any dry lube product will get the job done:  http://www.homedepot.com/p/Blaster-9-3-oz-Dry-Lube-with-PTFE-Lubricant-16-TDL/202532762#specifications

Chris Budd
Certified Professional Inspector