Fire Recovery Realities

Sliding Doors For Your Business

by Matthew Fields

Sliding doors are an excellent choice for any business seeking stylish, functional, and convenient doors for their entrances and exits. Regardless of your industry there is a door for you. Understanding the primary features, maintenance requirements, and specialty types will help you pick a commercial door that's right for your building. 

Drive Type

The majority of industrial sliding doors are belt driven. This means that the doors slide in one direction across a horizontal plane, and open parallel to the door header. There are many different styles of belt driven doors for many different industry specific applications. These include:

  • Blast resistant doors for high-security areas
  • Lead lined doors for X-ray labs 
  • Hurricane rated doors where mandated by law
  • Sterile room doors for healthcare and industry application
  • Rapid opening doors 
  • Heavy-duty doors
  • Telescoping doors where space is a consideration, but you still need an adequate opening for efficient traffic flow. 

Each door has different header size requirements and other construction considerations. Your carpenter should know what door is best for either retrofitting or new construction. Doors also open in any direction you would like. Whether you prefer (or require) left-handed or right-handed door is something to consider. 

Some doors are linear drive doors. These doors have a mechanism that drives them open perpendicular to the header. They can open either into or out of your building and provide an excellent solution to space limited areas where a belt drive door just won't work. These doors are less common, and less features are available on them. 

Door Maintenance 

Having a dedicated door maintenance plan is very important, and sometimes required by law. Some doors come with a dedicated law-mandated checklist for maintenance that must be strictly followed. Other doors require the following common sense maintenance:

  • Any chips, dings, or scratches in the doors topcoats should be addressed for cosmetic and corrosion protection reasons. 
  • Have the cable inspected regularly for any wear. 
  • All brackets that are bolted into surrounding walls should be tight. This keeps the door structurally sound. 
  • Track wear should be closely monitored to ensure free opening and closing. 
  • Wheels should be monitored for wear regularly.
  • Appropriate track gaps should be maintained over the life of the door. 

Considering the needs of your building, your budget, any government requirements, and the points listed above will ensure that you buy the correct door guaranteed for many years of security and service. Work with a professional contractor, like S & J Door Inc, for more help picking the right doors for you business. 

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