Between The 3 Most Common Types of Commercial & Industrial Garage Doors, Which One is The Best For You?

You’re thinking of changing your commercial garage doors? Maybe you’re buying your first commercial doors ever! Here are things you should know before shopping.

Sectional Overhead Doors' Model: G-5000, 14'x16', Black Color, Window: 2 G-4400 sections (Full Vision) with Anodized frame and Clear glass

Based on the experience of homeowners, all garage doors are sectional overhead ones, one whose hinged panels are raised to rest parallel to the ceiling. Yet that is only part of the category.

For commercial, agricultural or industrial purposes, there are other types of garage doors to meet specific needs. Steel is not the only material used to cover them – there is also rubber or reinforced fabric.

#1 The overhead sectional doors – the Top Choice

These are built like residential garage doors, but their size can vary considerably. They are of course made up of sections, sometimes called panels, installed one on top of the other.

The big difference is the way the door moves, and consequently the hardware associated with it.

Since commercial buildings are often constructed with very high ceilings, in order to ensure maximum clearance (or headroom) for the garage door on the interior of the structure, the door will move up along the wall then turn at the ceiling.

Depending on the height of the garage door and the interior height of the building, different types of movement can be used.

Here are the 3 most used:

  • Standard: as seen in residential doors
  • High lift: the door moves up along the wall then turns near the ceiling
  • Full vertical lift: used for loading and unloading locations

The vast majority of sectional doors in the commercial sector are made of galvanized steel, and a large number are injected with polyurethane foam to give them maximum insulation, but also more robustness.

There are also non-insulated garage doors used mainly in unheated buildings that serve, for example, to store agricultural machinery.

The Rolling steel doors

As its name implies, the door rolls up over the head of the door and doesn’t need horizontal tracks like sectional doors.

In order for it to roll up, the height of the sections must be very small and these sections are call slats. Slat heights vary from one manufacturer to another but in general they are 3 inches high.

Rolling steel door (firewall) used to divide 2 areas in a manufacturing business.

There are various uses for these doors. But most often they are used to compartmentalize and close off two interior sections of a building. One reason could be to avoid spreading dust from one area to another.

Based on insurance requirements, these doors may be of the “firewall” type to stop, this time, fire from spreading from one section to another inside the structure. They can be rated for from 30 to 240 minutes of fire resistance.

Another use of these doors is as counter shutters, as seen in areas and food service counters. Lastly, others consist of metal grilles as seen in shopping centers.

They all have one point in common – they roll up.

The High-speed roll up doors

These types of door are seen less often but are commonly used in different sectors such as food, distribution centers and heavy industry (mines, rail transportation).

For example, in the food industry, if there is a refrigerated area in your building or even in a grocery store, a door shouldn’t be left open for extended periods.

This type of door can open quickly, up to 96 inches a second! However, don’t worry – it closes slower (48 in. a second) to avoid any accidents.

High-speed vinyl door installed in a food distribution center.

These door scan also be made of either fairly thick rubber to withstand large impacts (e.g. for the rail or mining industries) or in reinforced vinyl (polyester) as seen in the manufacturing sector.

Want to know more about one or another of these door models?

Then contact a GARAGA dealer in your area.

They are indeed experts in commercial and industrial garage doors. They have extensive experience and a thorough knowledge of the characteristics of doors of this sector.

For your convenience, they can send you a quotation by email.

You would like to see pictures of commercial doors first?

Browse our Commercial Door Pictures Gallery and get lots of great ideas.

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.