Doors, Windows and Their Fittings: A Practical Maintenance Guide for Flats

A typical flat has a heavy entrance door, timber internal doors, bathroom doors that live in humid air, and aluminium or uPVC sliding windows, often behind steel grills. A RUAP flat, with four bathrooms and four verandas, has many hinges, latches, tracks and seals.

Warning signs and what usually causes them

Match the symptom to the likely cause before you buy parts or call anyone:

Damp patches beside or below a window that grow after rain usually mean water is coming in from outside, often round the frame;^[9] see also damp walls and seepage.

Tools and materials you will need

• Screwdrivers, and a set of Allen (hex) keys for handles and roller adjusters.
• A vacuum cleaner with a narrow nozzle, a soft brush and a pipe cleaner for drain holes.
• Mild, pH-neutral detergent and soft cloths; no solvents, bleach or scouring pads.^[1][3]
• Light machine oil for hinges, powdered graphite for locks, and a dry silicone spray for aluminium tracks if the window maker approves it.^[1]
• Longer screws, wooden dowels and wood glue for stripped hinge holes.
• Seals, brush strip or rollers matched to your window system; take the old piece to the shop.

Hinged doors: sagging, sticking and squeaking

A door that drags on the frame or will not latch has usually dropped on its hinges. Consumer NZ, the New Zealand consumer organisation, notes that loose hinge screws can make a door stick on the handle side.^[2] The top hinge carries the most load, so check it first.

1. Open the door and gently lift it by the handle. Movement at the hinges means loose screws.
2. Tighten every hinge screw, on the door and on the frame, without over-tightening into soft wood.
3. If a screw just spins, fit a longer one that reaches solid timber, or glue a dowel into the hole and re-drill it once the glue has set.^[2]
4. Replace worn hinge pins and lubricate the hinge lightly; Stegbar, an aluminium window and door maker, recommends light machine oil for hinges.^[1][2]
5. If a timber door still sticks, it may simply be swollen. Let it dry out and plane it only if it still sticks,^[2] then seal the bare edge with paint or varnish.

Locks, latches and handles

With locks, the wrong lubricant does more harm than none. Stegbar recommends puffing powdered graphite into the keyway,^[1] and the care guide from the UK installer Clearview Home Improvements says not to oil cylinder locks or use solvent-based aerosol sprays.^[3]

• For a stiff key, clean the key, puff a little graphite into the keyway and work the key in and out a few times.^[1]
• If the latch misses the hole in the strike plate, the lock will jam; correct the door's alignment first.^[2]
• Lightly oil the moving parts of multi-point locks on uPVC doors about once a year, and grease the hooks.^[3]
• Tighten loose window catches, which otherwise stop the sash pulling tight against its seals.^[2]

For choosing locks and changing them when you move in, see the flat and building security guide.

Sliding windows and doors: tracks, rollers and drain holes

Many Dhaka flats have aluminium sliding windows, and uPVC is becoming more common. Each sash (the moving glazed panel) runs on small rollers in a track at the bottom of the frame. Rain running down the glass collects in the outer channel and leaves through small drain slots, often called weep holes. When these block, water builds up in the track and can spill inside.^[2][3]

1. Open the sash fully and vacuum the track; Stegbar recommends a household vacuum or a dry, soft-bristled brush for tracks and drain holes.^[1]
2. Loosen packed dirt in the corners with the brush and vacuum again. Never use a metal scraper.
3. Clear the drain slots gently with a pipe cleaner or soft brush.^[3]
4. Pour a cup of water into the outer channel. If it does not run out through the slots, they are still blocked.
5. Wash the frame with mild detergent and warm water, rinse it, and dry it with a soft cloth.^[1]
6. Once a year, apply a light dry silicone spray to aluminium tracks and wipe off the excess.^[1] If the sash still grinds or jumps, the rollers need adjusting or replacing, which means lifting the sash out;^[2] on upper floors, leave that to a window fitter.

Aluminium and uPVC: how often to clean

Stegbar advises cleaning aluminium frames at least once a year in cities and every three months in coastal or industrial areas.^[1] Clearview suggests cleaning uPVC about every four months, without pressure washers or steam cleaners.^[3] With Dhaka's dust and traffic fumes, the shorter interval is the safer choice.

Seals, weatherstripping and keeping monsoon rain out

Weatherstripping is the flexible brush, rubber or foam seal on the moving parts of a door or window; glazing rubber holds the glass in the frame. Consumer NZ notes that glazing rubber shrinks with age and sunlight, leaving gaps.^[2] Worn seals let in rain, dust and noise, and let cool air escape from an air-conditioned room. The US Department of Energy lists poor weatherstripping and windows that do not close tightly among the places to look for air leaks.^[8]

• Look along every seal for gaps, flattened brush pile and rubber pulled out of its groove.
• On a breezy day, hold a strip of tissue near the edges of a closed window; if it flutters, air is getting through.^[2][8]
• Check the sealant between the frame and the wall; Asian Paints names the areas around windows among the places to check for rain seepage.^[9] Replace seals with the profile made for your window system.
• Never run sealant over the drain slots or along the outer channel. Water that cannot drain out will come inside.

Check before the monsoon starts in June and again after a heavy storm; Asian Paints recommends inspecting before and after the monsoon.^[9] Outside work on upper floors is usually arranged by the committee. Our damp guide explains how to tell a window leak from other damp, and our wall cracks guide covers cracks running from window corners.

Grills, window stops and child safety

Steel grills are very common in Dhaka apartments. They keep intruders out, but they can also trap people inside during a fire. US fire-safety advice is that barred windows and doors need release devices that open from inside quickly, without a key, special knowledge or great effort.^[7]

• Check grills for rust at the welds and where they enter the wall. Repaint surface rust; call a fabricator for cracked welds or loose anchors.
• Make sure any openable grill section opens freely, keep its key nearby but out of children's reach, and practise opening it.^[7]
• Where young children live, fit stops so windows open no more than about 10 cm (4 inches), or guards with bars no more than about 10 cm apart. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends both, and warns that insect screens do not stop falls.^[5]
• Lock sliding windows and move furniture away from them so children cannot climb up.^[6] CPSC advises that guards on the sixth floor and below should be openable by adults in an emergency.^[5]

Door closers and fire doors in the common areas

Stair and lobby doors in many buildings have an overhead closer that pulls the door shut. On a fire door, it keeps smoke out of the stairs, so a door wedged open defeats its purpose. UK fire door guidance tells residents to keep fire doors shut, not to tamper with self-closing devices, and to report faults promptly.^[4]

A simple check, taken from UK guidance for buildings over 11 metres tall; it applies in England, but the test is useful anywhere:^[4]

1. Open the door fully and let go. It should close and latch fully into the frame.
2. Open it to about 15 degrees and let go. It should still close and latch.
3. Check the gaps round the edges (the guidance cites at most 4 mm at the sides and top) and that any smoke seals are intact and not painted over.
4. Look for loose or missing screws in the hinges and the closer's arm, and for oil on or below the closer body, which usually means it is failing.
5. Report any fault to the caretaker or committee in writing; do not adjust a common-area closer yourself.

The UK guidance has communal fire doors checked at least every three months.^[4] Bangladesh's own requirements come from the national building code and the fire service, which this guide does not restate, so a committee should ask a qualified fire-safety adviser what applies. Add the check to the monthly building maintenance checklist.

Prevention: a simple routine

Common mistakes to avoid

• Sealing or painting over drain slots to stop a leak; it traps the water and makes things worse.
• Spraying oil or a general-purpose aerosol into a lock.^[3]
• Cleaning frames with solvents, bleach, scourers or a pressure washer.^[1][3]
• Planing a door that is only swollen from monsoon damp; once it dries, the gap is too big.^[2]
• Wedging a fire door open, or padlocking every grill and keeping the keys in another room.^[4]

Repair, replace or call a professional

Call a professional, or ask the committee to, when:

• A door still drags after the hinges are tightened: the frame may have moved, or the door needs re-hanging by a carpenter.
• Rollers need replacing on a large or upper-floor sash, or a sash has come off its track.
• Mist appears between the panes of double glazing; the sealed unit must be replaced.^[2]
• A grill is cracked, badly rusted at its anchors or loose, or a door closer leaks oil or no longer shuts the door.
• Water comes in round an upper-floor frame and the outside sealant needs renewing.

Replace rather than repair when the frame itself is corroded or split, when parts are no longer made, or when the same fitting keeps failing. Taking the old roller, seal or handle to an aluminium or hardware shop is the easiest way to find a match.

What affects the cost

We could not find reliable published prices for these repairs in Bangladesh, so none are given. The cost depends mainly on:

• The part: screws and graphite cost little; rollers, seals and handles more; a sealed glass unit, a closer or a new window much more.
• Matching: parts for a particular aluminium or uPVC system may have to be ordered.
• Access: outside work on upper floors needs safe access, which can cost more than the repair itself.
• Labour and warranty: a carpenter, window fitter or fabricator, and whether several flats can share one visit.

Get at least two written quotes that name the parts and the work; our guide to getting repair quotes explains how. Landlords can record these checks with the landlord maintenance checklist.

Next steps

1. Open, close and lock every door and window, and note any that drag, stick or jam.
2. Vacuum the tracks and clear the drain holes before the next heavy rain.
3. Tighten loose hinge and handle screws, and put graphite in any stiff lock.
4. Fit window stops or guards where young children live, and agree where the grill keys are kept.
5. List the jobs that need a contractor, and report faulty common-area fire doors to the committee.