Mold in storm sliding door track

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by iminhell1

To me it looks deeper than the track. Looks like water ingress below the pavers. If they have settled and water puddles at the door, that's no good. The door also looks to be mildly compromised, or about to become. Putting some caulk on the joints after a nice dry and warm few days wouldn't be a bad idea. If there is ever moisture between the panes, the frame is compromised.

TBH, it's not a bad idea to remove the doors and track to see what you actually have going on.

That looks worse than it is, but everything is eventually compromised in the salt air. The caulk below the sill is about a year old (as is the house paint), all done before we bought it last summer. We’re catching up on deferred maintenance now.

That is a second story deck, with pavers. Sand joints which have washed out a bit with all my hose work around this door. Re-sanding them is on the list. There is very good drainage away from the doors, across the deck to the front and out/down.

And yes, eventually I’ll cave in and get a crew out to take those doors out. I’m worried about that not only because of the cost, but also any damage may be impossible to fix as these doors are out of production and the mfgr has few/no parts. I needed new exterior handles (cast aluminum) due to corrosion, and ended up stripping, epoxy filling and epoxy painting what I have. Because of the corrosion they aren’t as pretty as the interior handles (which match style), but they’ll do for now.

In the pictures you can see some staining and puckering on the corners of the doors, and bubbling elsewhere. This concerns me for the reasons above. I can grind out any surface issues and epoxy, etc. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to fix inside/structure damage without parts. So once I’ve committed to taking the doors out, the project has the potential to cascade quickly and expensively!

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by chassis

2000cs What do you use to wash the outside of the house, sliding door and tracks? Bucket and sponge?

I wash the house with hose water and a spray nozzle. That seems to get the salt and dirt running down the walls pretty well.

I go over the glass the same way (some mornings there is a salty condensation on them, and even after a rain there can be salt residue). A very thorough pattern including inside the tracks all around, and multiple overlapping passes on the glass.

That is weekly +/-.

About once a month, after rinsing as above, I use a squeegee with a mop end and apply a bucket of RainX on them, then squeegee. That really helps keep them clean and lets the weekly rinses take care of the minor stuff so we can enjoy the view.

I clean the tracks and door frames outside with Dawn, and a soft brush. That is just a couple of times a year. It is due for that now, but I’m going to try some rust remover first to get at those stains.

Sounds worse than it is, but beachside living does come with extra maintenance.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Interesting. I just read the label and it does not state those precautions. I've used it on painted wood. I worked great.

Just received this from RMR Customer Service. Fastest email response to a blind box ever.

“You can use RMR-86 to remove the cosmetic look of the mold, but it can not be used on aluminum.”

Further follow up this morning from RMR:
“ Yes, RMR-141 Can be used on aluminum .
RMR-141 will not remove the cosmetic look of the mold.”

[2000cs]

Update:

After flooding/filling the bottom track with bleach, then waiting about 30 minutes and flushing with a lot of water, we seem to have knocked the mold down. We had some rain late last week and I washed the front of the house on Sunday - no smell at all. So I’m hopeful we took care of it for now, and I think we have a decent solution if it comes back (betting it will eventually).

I checked again with the mfgr of these doors. Ours, in spite of being only 7 years old, are out of production and there are few if any parts available. Don’t know how a 20 year warranty works with no parts support, especially since none of their current doors use the same track. In other words, if there is a failure of the glass seals, door frames, or whatever, I may be in for a total replacement. So definitely trying to make these last as long as I can.

Appreciate the help and suggestions along the way; thanks!