How to fix a sliding shower screen that sticks or has dropped

What you need

• Phillips screwdriver and 2.5 and 3 mm Allen keys
• Old toothbrush and a non-scratch sponge
• Old towel for the shower tray
• Phone torch
• A second person if the door has to come out
• Cleaning vinegar or liquid limescale remover (Viakal, Cillit Bang Limescale and Shine)
• Silicone spray (WD-40 Specialist Silicone, 6 to 9 euros)
• Set of replacement rollers of the same type and diameter if the wheels are broken (10 to 25 euros at Leroy Merlin, Bricodepot or a ferretería, the local hardware shop)
• Drip seals or closing strip if they are deformed (6 to 15 euros per metre)

Step by step

1. 1

   Diagnose with the door closed

   Move the door slowly and listen. From inside the shower, look at the top and bottom wheels with the torch: check that they all turn, that they are inside the rail and that none is broken or pitted. Run a finger along the bottom guide to feel for limescale.

2. 2

   Clean the guides

   Soak the top and bottom guides with vinegar or limescale remover, wait 10 minutes and scrub with the toothbrush. Rinse with the sponge and dry. Move the door: if it slides now, skip to step 6.

3. 3

   Refit a dropped door

   With the towel on the tray, hold the door by both edges, lift it a couple of centimetres and seat the top wheels in the rail. Then press or turn the bottom rollers (depending on the model they have a clip, a spring or a tab) until they enter the bottom guide. Let go of the door slowly and check that it holds.

4. 4

   Adjust the height with the eccentric screws

   Find the adjustment screw on each top roller. Turn a quarter turn, move the door and look at the gap to the fixed vertical profile at the top and bottom. Repeat until the door is parallel, without rubbing on the tray or the top profile, and closes against the seal along its full height.

5. 5

   Set the bottom rollers

   Loosen or tighten their screw until the wheel touches the guide without pressing on it: it should spin freely with a finger. If they are tight, the door brakes; if loose, the door jumps out at the first knock.

6. 6

   Lubricate with silicone spray

   A light pass along the top and bottom rail and over the axle of each wheel. Slide the door ten times from side to side to spread it. Wipe off the excess with a cloth: too much attracts limescale.

7. 7

   Replace the rollers if they are broken

   If any wheel does not turn, is flattened or the bearing sounds like gravel, replace the complete set: take out the door, unscrew the old ones, fit new ones of the same diameter without tightening against the glass and hang the door again. Then check the closing seals and drip seals.

Fixing a sliding shower screen: why it stops sliding

Limescale in the guides. The most common cause in Alicante and Valencia. Hard water evaporates in the rail and leaves a crust that brakes the wheels. You can tell because the door moves in jerks and squeaks, but it does not fall off. Run a finger along the bottom guide: if you feel white grit, this is it.

Worn or broken rollers. The nylon wheels flatten or crack, and the ball bearings rust with the salt air and the damp. Symptom: a metallic grinding noise, the door is hard to move even with a clean guide, and when you look at the wheels from inside the shower one does not turn or is pitted. That is when you need to replace the shower screen rollers.

Door dropped or off the guide. A wheel has come out of the top rail, usually after a knock or because the bottom rollers (the ones that keep the door tight against the profile) have worked loose. The door hangs crooked, rubs on the tray or pulls away from the closing seal. It is the most alarming fault and the easiest to fix: you just need to seat it again.

Height out of adjustment. The top rollers have an eccentric screw that raises or lowers each corner of the door. With use they loosen and the door tilts: it rubs on one side and leaves a gap on the other. You notice it because the door closes well at the top but not at the bottom, or the other way round.

Deformed seals and profiles. The bottom drip seals and the closing strips harden and bulge, and the door catches on them. If the door brakes just as it reaches the closed position, this is usually the cause; the fix is in how to replace shower screen seals.

How to adjust a sliding shower screen so it closes properly

Almost every sliding screen from Leroy Merlin, Bricodepot, GME, Kassandra, Doccia or Roca has top rollers with eccentric adjustment: a Phillips or Allen screw that, when turned, shifts the wheel axle up or down by a few millimetres. With two wheels at the top, you can raise or lower each side of the door separately and correct the tilt.

The aim is for the door to sit parallel to the fixed vertical profile, with the same gap at the top as at the bottom (1 or 2 mm), and to press against the magnetic seal or closing strip along its full height when closed. Adjust a quarter turn at a time, move the door and look. The bottom rollers do not adjust height: they only keep the door in the rail, and they should be left with minimal play, neither pressed against the guide nor loose.

If the door is properly adjusted but still closes badly, the problem is in the wall profiles: over the years the silicone gives and the profile opens by a millimetre. In that case you need to loosen the profile screws, level it and reseal, which we explain in how to seal a shower screen with silicone.

Common mistakes when fixing a sliding screen

The first is lubricating with oil, ordinary WD-40 or petroleum jelly. They attract limescale and dust, and within two weeks the guide is worse than before. Silicone spray only (WD-40 Specialist Silicone or the own-brand silicone spray from Leroy Merlin), and not much of it.

The second is forcing a stuck door by pulling on it. The doors weigh 10 to 15 kg and the rollers are screwed to toughened glass: a sharp tug rips out a roller or drops the door completely. If it does not slide, stop and find the cause.

The third is tightening the screws on new rollers hard against the glass: toughened glass will not take point pressure. Hand tight, with the plastic washer in place. And the fourth is cleaning the guide with a green scourer or wire wool: you scratch the anodised aluminium and the limescale grips twice as hard afterwards.

• Work with the door closed and held; if you are going to take it out, do it with two people.
• Protect the shower tray with a towel: the glass is heavy and the edges chip the enamel.
• Never knock the profiles to seat the door: the aluminium bends and it will never slide again.

When to call a professional

Call us if the roller hole in the glass is chipped, if the rollers are a model you cannot find in the shops, if the door is too heavy to take out on your own, if the wall profiles are loose, or if the screen is more than 15 years old and everything is failing at once: at that point it usually makes more sense to fit a new one.

Our shower screen service replaces the set of rollers for 45 to 80 euros, with the rollers included on standard models, and adjusts the door and cleans the guides in the same visit. Resealing with silicone costs 40 to 70 euros and fitting a new front sliding screen 90 to 140 euros. We arrive in 20 to 45 minutes in Valencia, Alicante, Torrevieja and Benidorm. Fixed price by WhatsApp with a photo of the screen and of one roller, 6 months written guarantee and an invoice with IVA (VAT). More rates in how much it costs to install a shower screen.

Limescale and salt air: looking after your screen on the coast

On the Alicante and Valencia coast, the bottom guide of a sliding screen builds up visible limescale within a month. A 30-second habit prevents almost every fault: after the shower, run the squeegee over the glass and dry the bottom guide with the towel. Once a month, cleaning vinegar in the guide, 10 minutes, brush and rinse. And every three or four months, a light pass of silicone spray along the rails.

In seafront flats (Torrevieja, Santa Pola, Benidorm, Dénia), the salt air rusts the steel ball bearings; when you replace them, choose wheels with stainless steel bearings or solid nylon. If the glass is also white with limescale, the method is in how to clean a shower screen and remove limescale.