Q&A: How do I seal the top of a sliding glass patio door to prevent roaches from entering my home?

Question by : How do I seal the top of a sliding glass patio door to prevent roaches from entering my home?
This year we’ve had more roaches than usual in Florida. In the past few weeks, i’d started seeing more of them in my home. I laid bait traps, ensured the kitchen was spotless before bed, and vacuumed daily, but the problem worsened in the last two weeks.

Saturday night I walked into my kitchen and within a 5 minute period, I killed 3 American cockroach nymphs in the vicinity of one of sliding glass doors. Sunday, my fiancé killed 2 much larger nymphs. We became incredibly concerned that the inside of our house was infested; however, we had only seen these insects in the vicinity of our 2 patio doors, or our front door (none of which seal very well) and we decided to treat outside of these entryways with ecosmart’s home pest control to see if that could help.

Last night, I sprayed the product outside the 2 porch doors according to the instructions. The patio doors are so poorly sealed that the overpowering odor of the product permeated the air throughout the house in less than five minutes. Five minutes later, my fiancé is screaming at me as my roommate is trying to stumble out of the house gasping, choking, and violently dry-heaving.

I was in tears and bought a roll of masking tape to seal up the doors from inside the house to prevent any more of the oils from volatilizing into our home. While taping up all around the frame of the door that opens to the kitchen, two large American cockroaches flew up to the door. They obviously did not like the ecosmart and frantically ran and flew around trying to find a way in. One landed and bolted up to the top of door and disappeared into a large gap above a piece of the door’s frame. I looked at the opposite end of this piece of frame (i hadn’t taped it yet) which enters the house near the kitchen and saw two long roach antenna peeking out of crevice and taunting me. I grabbed a small diameter dowel and poked it in the head and quickly taped up the frame there while it frantically flew around outside.

So, how on earth do I seal the top of the door and the frame so I don’t see anymore roaches in my kitchen. These last two roaches seemed to know exactly how to get into the house and I need to fix this problem before we have an internal infestation. Last night, I cleaned the back porch and discarded a wood wheelchair ramp the previous owner made. The roaches were nesting in and under the ramp. Sealing the doors should prevent any more displaced roaches from sneaking in.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!
Thank you both for your suggestions. Unfortunately, I’ve considered both already and neither will work for this specific problem because the roach tried to gain entry between the top of the sliding glass door and the door’s frame. Ideally, I’m looking for some way to seal the top of the door off but it can’t interfere with with the way it opens and close while sliding along the track.

The sides of the door along the frame also need to be sealed more thoroughly, but again, it is along the door where it slides over the second pane, and can’t interfere with the way the door moves like expanding foam or caulk potentially would. :-/

The frame is already sealed all the way around where it meets with the walls and floor.

When my fiancé went to home depot he was told that they did not sell any weather stripping for sliding doors.

Could I use some type of weather stripping for this, even if it isn’t made especially for sliding doors? If so, what are my options (I need something rigid e

Best answer:

Answer by Shecandoit22
Hello Elle,

This is Shecandoit22 from Home depot.

This is an easy fix. All you have to do is use some Insulating Foam Sealant. It’s common practice to seal all of the gaps with this when you install all doors and windows. It is used to keep drafts and insects out. Once it drys you can trim it and put some paint-able caulk over it than paint it to match your wall.

There are a few different types of foam so make sure that you get a minimum expansion foam. The maximum expansion can bow the frame and interfere with the operation of the door.

I have put a link below of the most common Insulating Foam Sealant that is used in my area.

I hope this helps you keep those irritating bugs outside where they belong.

What do you think? Answer below!