What Should You Be Looking for in a Commercial Garage Door?
What Should You Be Looking for in a Commercial Garage Door?
When it comes to residential garage doors, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you should be looking for. For commercial garage doors, however, it can be a different story. There are some areas where it’s okay to cut corners on a residential door that aren’t necessarily good ideas to skimp on when it comes to commercial doors, and vice versa. What are some of the things you should be looking for when shopping for a commercial garage door? Here are four of them.
Material
You want your commercial garage door to be made of metal, usually steel or aluminum. Natural wood can be great for a residential garage door, as it can create a very aesthetically pleasing look and feel. With a commercial door, though, you want to be a little more practical. Wood doors are vulnerable to cracking and splintering, not to mention rot if exposed to the elements or too much moisture. They require much more maintenance and care, which can be worth it in a residential environment but not something you want to be worrying about when it comes to a commercial enterprise.
Insulation
When it comes to residential doors, you’ll often have a choice between an insulated and a non-insulated door. You may feel that for your home, the energy savings is not worth the extra expense of insulation. While this is debatable, you should never skimp on insulation for your commercial door. You have valuable inventory to protect from the elements. Additionally, insulation will also make the door quieter and often more durable thanks to the added insulation material inside the door.
Heavy-Duty Torsion Springs
Your torsion springs are designed with a limited life. Most residential springs are built to last about 10,000 cycles, or openings and closings before they wear down or break. That’s usually fine for the average family, but your commercial garage door may be opening and closing a lot more. If that’s the case, you should look for torsion springs that can withstand up to 25,000 – 50,000 cycles. In some cases, you may have as much as hundreds of thousands of cycles, in which you may benefit from a high-speed, high-cycle door.
Windows
This one will vary from business to business, but you will want to think about whether or not you want people to be able to see into your facility and how much natural light you want to let in. If you want a lot of light and visibility, consider a full-view commercial door. Windows will also allow you to see your customers as they arrive at your facility.
For more information on commercial door features and help finding the right commercial door for your business in the greater Spokane, WA or Northern Idaho areas, contact Continental Door Co. today.
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Keeping Your Employees Safe from Your Commercial Garage Door
Keeping Your Employees Safe from Your Commercial Garage Door
Your commercial garage door is designed with safety features. The fact is, however, that in some commercial environments, many employees may be walking or driving back and forth under your garage door every day.
Whether that garage door remains open most of the time or it is repeatedly going up and down throughout the day, it is important to take the proper safety precautions to protect your employees from an unforeseen accident. What is the best way to keep your employees safe when it comes to your commercial garage door?
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Make Sure You Have a Modern Door
The newer your commercial garage door is, the more likely it is to have state-of-the-art safety features. Have you checked to see if your current door has safety devices in place? If not, you should consider adding the safety mechanisms or replacing with an updated version of your door.
Make Sure Your Door Is Installed and Repaired by Professionals
When you are bringing in a new door, don’t try to install it with your own team. Let experienced professionals handle the job. It keeps your employees safe from injury during installation and makes it more likely the door will be installed correctly — meaning a dangerous accident is less likely. Similarly, don’t cut corners when it comes to repair. Make sure your repair is performed by experts with years of experience who know what they are doing and ensure that they are using OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts.
Schedule Regular Maintenance
If one of your springs is about to give out, there’s a good chance there will be no way for you to know about it until it snaps, which can put your employees in danger. Annual or semi-annual maintenance by professionals can help you to identify a potential problem and fix it before it becomes a hazard.
Training
Make sure any employees who will come in contact with the garage door or pass underneath it have a full understanding of how it works and how to operate it. An hour of training could save multiple lives.
Call for Repairs Immediately
If your garage door is not working properly, do not wait until the end of the day or the end of the week to deal with it. Call for repairs right away and find a workaround until the professionals come to fix it.
If you need commercial garage door repair, installation or maintenance in the Spokane, WA area or Northern Idaho, call Continental Door Company. We have the experienced garage door professionals who know how to make sure your door is as safe as possible. Contact us to request service or to receive a quote on a new commercial garage door now.
