Overhead doors in warehouses, retail back docks and service center facilities are essential to daily operations. A broken overhead door can result in late deliveries, makeshift work-arounds and compromised facility security. Yet many facility budgets list overhead doors with general maintenance until one breaks.
Treating overhead doors as a managed asset (with a selection standard, a maintenance schedule and a replacement plan) will cost less in the long run than failing to do so and reacting to failures. This guide details the key decisions.
Matching the Door to the Opening
There are a number of types of commercial doors. Most are suited for specific uses.
Sectional doors are by far the most common type of door. Insulated steel sections are mounted on tracks which travel up and back when the door is opened. This type of door is ideal when energy efficiency is important and there is sufficient headroom for the tracks.
Rolling steel doors wrap around a drum located above the opening of a door. They need little headroom and stand up to heavy use. Examples include loading docks and retail store fronts.
High-speed doors, mainly made of fabric, open and close within a few seconds. These doors are designed for very busy interior door openings where constant traffic flow is a given and temperature control is also crucial. Examples are cold storage rooms.
Fire-rated doors automatically close when an alarm sounds. These doors are part of a building’s life-safety system, and are tested in various scenarios as per local fire regulations.
Cycle count, wind exposure, required insulation and security are the main factors to consider when purchasing a door. A door rated for only a few cycles per day will wear out very quickly on a busy dock running 100+ cycles per shift.
The Cycle Count Drives Everything
Parts like springs have a rating based on the number of cycles they are expected to endure. A typical torsion spring is rated for 10,000 cycles while a high-cycle torsion spring can be rated for many times that amount. This can translate into having to replace the springs on a busy door every year or so versus every few years.
Estimate the number of cycles for a door by counting the number of openings for a typical week. This helps you to choose the correct spring rating, opener duty rating and frequency of service for your door.
Building a Maintenance Schedule
Manufacturers typically recommend annual inspection by a professional, with doors of particularly high use inspected more frequently. A typical service visit covers:
- Spring condition and door balance.
- Cables, drums and their fastenings.
- Rollers, hinges and track alignment.
- Opener operation, limits and force settings.
- Safety devices such as photo eyes and reversing edges.
- Weather seals and bottom astragals.
Early warning signs between visits can be reported by staff. Examples of unusual behavior are unusual noise, doors ‘drifting’ after having come to rest, visible gaps at the floor, or a door that reverses for no apparent reason.
Work with springs and cables is best done by a technician. Spring tension in commercial installations is usually much higher than in residential applications and can cause serious harm if it is released unintentionally. Staff with tools should not attempt to do this work.
Safety and Liability
Doors can cause big problems for cars, forklifts and even people. This can result in big liabilities as well as costly repairs. Photo eyes and reversing edges need to be tested regularly and logged. People must not walk or drive under a moving door.
A door that has come off its track can fall. Keep people and vehicles clear until it has been secured by a technician. A damaged door must be tagged ‘out of service’ and not used as a work around.
Planning Replacement
At some point the cost of repair will exceed the value of a door. Typical indicators of this point include frequent failure of springs and cables, panels severely dented or corroded, tracks severely bent and re-straightened on many occasions, and older openers for which no parts are available from suppliers.
A planned replacement is far easier than a sudden one. By keeping a simple record of how old each door is and the maintenance and repair history and costs of each door, you can forecast replacements a year or two ahead, schedule them in the quietest time of year and budget the necessary funds.
Working With a Service Partner
A single door service provider can provide consistent records across all of a facility’s locations. Companies such as Century Garage Door Repair Service provide service to both residential and light commercial doors, including commercial garage door repair in Denver and work in other metros. A facility should insist upon a written service record for each visit and maintain a facility specific service history for each door opening.
Quick Answers
How often should commercial overhead doors be serviced?
Most types of doors need to be inspected at least once or twice a year. However, some high-cycle doors may require more frequent inspections, for example busy docks may require a quarterly inspection.
What is a high-cycle spring?
A longer life spring, made for many more openings and closings than a standard spring. It costs a bit more at first but will last a lot longer on a busy door.
When should a commercial door be replaced instead of repaired?
When repairs keep recurring, panels or tracks are badly damaged, or parts are no longer available. A service log makes this easy to see.
