Who This Is For
Warehouses, auto shops, contractors' yards, storage buildings, marinas, restaurants with roll up service doors, and anyone else whose business runs through an overhead door.
Door Types We See
Sectional overhead doors. Panels that roll up on tracks, like a big home garage door. Common on shops and service bays, often insulated and often with windows.
Rolling steel doors. Slats that coil around a drum above the opening. They save headroom and stand up to abuse in warehouses and storage units.
Rolling counter shutters and grilles. Smaller doors for service windows and storefronts.
Fire doors. Rolling doors that close on their own when an alarm or heat trips them. They need testing every year.
Common Commercial Repairs
- Broken springs, which wear fast on doors that run dozens of times a day.
- Bent sections or slats from forklifts and trucks backing in.
- Doors off track or twisted in the opening.
- Operators that hum, stall or reverse.
- Safety edges and photo eyes that stop the door from closing.
- Worn bottom seals letting in water, heat and pests.
Spring, cable, drum and bracket work on a commercial door is strictly a technician job. These doors are far heavier than home doors.
High Cycle Springs
A standard spring lasts about 10,000 cycles. A busy loading door can burn through that in months. Ask about high cycle springs, which cost more up front and last many times longer on doors that never rest.
Operators
Commercial operators usually mount on the wall beside the door or on a trolley rail. Many have a chain hoist for opening the door by hand when the power is out, which matters here after a storm.
Push button stations, keypads, remote controls and timers to close can all be added.
Salt Air and Storms
Near the bay and the beaches, rust attacks springs, tracks and fasteners on commercial doors just as it does at home. Galvanized and stainless parts last longer. See rust on hardware.
After a storm, check the door before you run it. See storm damaged doors.
Keep It From Breaking
Most commercial door breakdowns give warning signs first. A planned service visit catches them. Read about maintenance contracts.
Bay door down? Call (850) 555-0147 or send the form and mention it's a business.