What Kind Of Garage Door Is Best For Commercial Use

There are two kinds of garage doors that are in most common use. Both have their respective advantages and disadvantages, but both are generally seen as the most appropriate approaches for commercial properties: sectional garage doors, and roller doors.

Sectional garage doors

A sectional door is lifted through a track system, which can be operated both manually and automatically through a motor. There are a number of different kinds of track systems – standard, high-life, full vertical, low headroom and roof pitch. What all sectional garage doors have in common, however, is that they need a lot of space – to move (open), and then to rest when left open. The required headroom or backroom can become an issue for smaller garage types, but for loading dock-like environments, it won’t be an issue at all.

Sectional garage doors have a number of other benefits; they’re extremely energy efficient and allow in a lot of light, helping to minimise your reliance on artificial light within the garage itself. They’re also quiet to operate, and a very secure and robust option for garages in weather-affected or crime risk areas.

Roller doors

Roller doors tend to be the more expensive option, but have a number of significant benefits. They’re much thinner and lighter in construction, and don’t require anywhere near as much space to operate, as they roll up and down without requiring the back space for the rails that a sectional garage needs. In other words, for close quarter needs, a roller door is highly preferable to a sectional door.

These doors are durable, despite their lighter weight. ARD roller doors, for example, are proven able to withstand cyclones, hail, and high wind environments, and are able to resist moisture getting in thanks to their large neoprene weather strip. These doors are also generally considered to be more fire-safe. Commercial properties with fire risks will generally install these to meet fire rating specifications. It is important to ensure that your roller doors have a good, tamper-proof lock, as otherwise it is easy to open and close them again, and it might be worth considering a security grille if that’s of particular concern.

Regardless of which door, make sure it’s quality

Regardless of whether you decide that roller doors or sectional doors are the right way to go, you should ensure that you get a quality door that is going to require minimal maintenance, while also lasting for the long term. There are four critical traits that you should look at in a commercial garage door, that ARD Garage Doors ensure are built into our entire range:

1. Superior strength – a good commercial door should be constructed from high performance materials such as aluminium, hi-tensile steel, Colorbond steel and neoprene. This is especially true in Australia, given the harsh natural conditions that the door will be standing in.
2. Leading design – not all doors are designed equally. For example, ARD Garage Doors have an innovative third centre drum in the middle of our roller door’s axle. This prevents the door from distorting from severe weather or other conditions, when other doors can start to distort and twist from a storm or two over the first 12 months.
3. Easy to use – for a commercial property, speed and ease of operation is so critical, and ARD Garage Doors have been designed to open and close quickly, thanks to double edge webbing and heavy-duty roller guides. This investment in robustness on our part also helps minimise any OH&S risks involved in employees opening or closing the doors manually.
4. Long life – obviously you don’t want to be replacing your property’s door every couple of years, but as a commercial business, presentation is also critical. ARD Garage Doors have a pre-painted steel coating that resists chipping, cracking, peeling and fading, helping the door to maintain its commercial value and presentational quality for many, many years.

Finding the right garage door for your commercial space can result in a substantial boost to your business's efficiency, productivity and ultimately your bottom line. The team at ARD Garage Doors are always available to discuss your garage space, business, and which solution would be optimal for you, so feel free to contact us on 13 21 69 or get a quick online quote to get the ball rolling on your new garage door today.