4 Benefits of an Insulated Service Door

As a business owner, you strive to provide excellent products and services to your customers, and a quality workplace for your employees. One easy way to do that is by installing a quality, insulated service door that provides additional climate control, energy-efficiency, noise reduction and safety to your workplace environment.

Climate Control

An insulated service door provides excellent climate control when you need thermal or cooling efficiency for your business operation. It will keep your indoor temperatures even and prevent you from making thermostat adjustments every time outdoor temperatures rise and fall. You have no control over the weather conditions, but you can easily control your business environment with an insulated service door. Any type of business will benefit from a comfortable work environment, but for businesses that produce or store electronics, pharmaceuticals, antiques, furs, food, or other items that can be damaged by heat and cold, insulated service doors are essential to business operations.

Energy-Efficiency

Every business owner knows that an energy-efficient workplace can save thousands of dollars each month on heating and cooling costs. A service door that isn't properly insulated can let outdoor hot and cold air indoors, even through the smallest cracks around the door or door seals when the door is closed. An insulated service door will keep your business warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer with more even temperatures from room to room. If you have a large warehouse with hundreds of employees, an insulated service door will help to provide a more comfortable, year-round work space that can increase employee production and reduce employee illness.

Noise Reduction

Excessive noise levels are often an unpleasant workplace factor for many businesses, especially those in manufacturing industries. In industrial settings where there are hundreds of workers on an assembly line or operating machinery, noise levels can be deafening at times. A service door that's properly insulated with a quality, dense polyurethane foam can reduce noise levels in adjacent areas by a significant amount. Rather than the noise from workers and machinery echoing off of a thin steel or aluminum service door, a lot of the interior noise will be absorbed by the foam insulation. An insulated service door will also keep noise from the outside from entering the workplace.

Safety

Although most commercial service doors are made from steel or aluminum, they don't always provide adequate safety from burglaries and break-ins. Doors that have no insulation are thinner, lighter and easier to puncture or damage. Safety is important to any type of business to protect equipment, merchandise and employees. Whatever type of business you operate, a burglary can cost you thousands and thousands of dollars in lost production time and lost revenue. An insulated service door that's stronger and more durable will provide additional protection for your business against unwanted and unexpected theft. It will also provide additional wind resistance against storms that bring heavy rain and strong winds.

Although an insulated service door for your business may cost you a little more up front, the benefits will pay for the extra costs in no time. Whatever type and size of business you have, an insulated service door is a great investment. As a business owner, you can help protect your business, your investment, and your employees with a top-quality insulated service door that offers many advantages.

5 of the Most Common Garage Door Issues

Garage doors are built to take heavy use and most get it. A typical residential garage door goes up and down over a thousand times a year. Considering the amount of wear and tear garage doors receive, most models provide faithful, trouble-free service for many years when properly installed and maintained. When malfunctions do happen, many require the services of a qualified garage door service technician to properly diagnose and repair. However, a few DIY tips can point the way to resolve simple issues, or at least enable you to narrow down the source of the trouble and describe it more accurately to service personnel.  

Here are five common garage door problems:

• Door is in open or closed position and unresponsive. If the unit is an automatic garage door opener that utilizes a remote control, dead batteries in the remote should be your first suspect. It’s an easy do-it-yourself task to install fresh batteries and try again. Still no response? Photo-electric sensors that tell the unit whether the door position is open or closed may be defective, out of adjustment or the drive motor itself may have failed. If the door is stuck in the closed position, make sure no one has locked the throw latch that secures the door from the interior. A trained garage door service tech from a reputable local dealer can further troubleshoot the cause and recommend needed repairs.

• Door begins to close, then abruptly reverses and opens again. All garage doors have a safety feature to prevent the door from closing on a person or object. If the internal sensor detects a blockage as the door is closing, it will automatically reverse the motor. Assuming there’s nothing in the way to block free motion of the door, the most likely causes are binding in the track due to lack of lubrication, defective track wheels or misaligned tracks. A defect in the internal sensing circuit is another possible cause.

• Door slams shut rather than lowering gently. On a manual garage door, heavy-duty springs counteract the weight of the door to ensure smooth opening and closing. If the springs are stretched, broken or disconnected, however, the door’s weight will be excessive and the door will slam shut when manually lowered. These springs are powerful and dangerous—let a pro handle this problem. For an automatic garage door, the problem is either in the sensors on either side of the door that turn off the motor at the proper position or in a limiting adjustment typically called “Up Force” and “Down Force” found on the motor. A qualified garage door technician has the equipment and expertise to diagnose and repair or adjust the system for smooth operation.  

• Motor hums, but door doesn’t open or close. This can be narrowed to two likely causes. First, the door trolley–the chain- or screw-driven component that moves up and down the central track to open and close the door may be defective. A professional can replace the trolley as an individual component. Second, internal motor drive gears may have jammed due to wear and/or stripped entirely. Having a new garage door opener installed is usually the most cost-efficient solution.  

• Light doesn’t illuminate when door is opening or closing. First, check the bulb. If it appears to be burned out, replace it. Sometimes a circuit board problem can fail to switch on the light, too. Reset the circuit board by unplugging the garage door opener from the AC power outlet for 30 seconds, then plug it back in again. Still in the dark? Time to call for professional garage door service.

6 Tips for Making Your Garage Burglar Proof

Your garage door may represent a big gap in an effective home security strategy. Many garage doors are routinely left unsecured and older models may be of flimsy construction that’s easier for a burglar to pry or break than a solid-core front or back exterior door. Once inside an attached garage, a thief can close the door for concealment, then take his time gaining entry to the main house. Of course, since many homeowners utilize the garage as a household storage area, it often isn’t even necessary to break into the home itself to hit the jackpot. Plenty of attractive high-value items may be easily accessible in the garage alone. In some cases, thieves may even utilize your garage to back in a truck or van for extra convenience and cover while moving large valuables out of your home.

To strengthen this weak link in the chain of home security, here are six tips to make your garage burglar-proof:

• Don’t leave it open. Sure, it’s a no-brainer. But cruise through any residential neighborhood during the day and count how many garage doors you see standing wide open with nobody inside or even visible anywhere on the premises. Don’t fall for the “It can’t happen here” myth. Local law enforcement authorities can tell you that no neighborhood is immune to burglaries and theft.

• Cover the garage door windows or apply frosted window film. Don’t make it easy for thieves who want to peek into your garage to check for a vehicle parked inside—a sign that somebody’s home—or casually window-shop for valuables inside that they want to steal. Also pay attention to the status of the door leading from the garage into the house. This door should incorporate a wide-angle peephole—not a glass window—to make the garage fully visible from indoors without providing thieves with an easy break-in point and/or a way to see into the house. Also, make sure the door is fitted with a heavy deadbolt lock.  

• Select a garage door opener that incorporates “rolling code” technology. This enhanced security automatically creates a new random remote code every time you open your door with the remote control. Because there are billions of possible codes, this feature makes it almost impossible for thieves utilizing common code-grabbing devices to defeat.

• Secure the garage door emergency release handle. Thieves frequently find it easy to reach the emergency release handle and open the door from the outside using nothing more than a bent coat hanger. Securing the handle with a single zip-tie or thin string makes it much more difficult to hook from outdoors, but still easy to pull indoors in case of an emergency.

• Close and latch overnight and when you leave town. When closing up for the night or if you’re going to be away from home for an extended period, don’t rely on simply closing your door with the opener. Go ahead and utilize the interior throw latch that manually locks the garage door track, physically securing the door so it can’t be raised. Most throw latches incorporate an opening so the latch can be padlocked in the closed position for added protection against break-in when you're out of town.

• Keep up with routine maintenance. Inspect the garage door annually for wear and tear in components that may make it easy to force open or otherwise defeat. Look for signs such as rust or corrosion, a gap where the door meets the garage floor (an easy pry point for thieves) or a track that has loosened from its mounting points.

The 1, 2, 3’s of Maintaining Your Automatic Garage Door

Though it bids you goodbye when you leave and welcomes you when you return, you probably don’t give much thought to your automatic garage door opener, but it is probably the largest and heaviest piece of moving equipment in your home. Its proper maintenance is essential to the safety of your family, smooth operation, keeping your garage energy efficient, and the lifespan of the door.

Automatic garage door care and maintenance tips: As simple as 1, 2, 3…

1. CLEAN

◦ Clean the door.
 Once a year, clean the exterior of your garage door with detergent, water, and a soft sponge or cloth. Rinse it completely with a hose. Doors in saltier, coastal regions should be washed more frequently. Wooden doors may require additional care if paint or stain is worn.


◦ Clean the tracks.
 Protecting your hands with gloves, clean the horizontally and vertically mounted tracks of your automatic garage door using brake parts cleaner and a rag.


2. INSPECT

◦ Prep.
Move cars out of the garage and clear items away from the tracks before performing garage door maintenance.


◦ Visually inspect components.
 Ensure all cables, brackets, hinges, rollers, springs, and tracks are in good condition and not worn or frayed. Make sure both sides of the system are symmetrical.


◦ Listen.
 Is the door movement smooth or jerky? Quiet or loud?


◦ Note the springs.
 Your springs balance the weight of your garage door. Common types include torsion and extension springs. WARNING!! They are under high tension, and pose significant threat of severe injury or death in the event this hardware is mishandled. They can be identified by red colored bolts or a nearby safety tag and should only be adjusted by a professional technician. 


◦ Check the door balance.
 Unplug the automatic garage door opener to cut off power, then disengage the door from the opener (usually by pulling the red cord with the handle). Raise the door to waist level. Slowly release your hold. If the door raises or lowers, it is not balanced properly and needs to be adjusted by a professional.


◦ Test auto-reverse safety features.
 Safety features should be tested every few months, and every time repairs or adjustments are made. If features are not functioning properly, immediately disconnect the door and operate it manually until repairs can be made.

▪ Mechanical: Place a brick or piece of wood on the ground in the path of the door. The door should reverse immediately on contact.

▪ Photocell: Attempt to close the garage door, but wave your foot or leg in the door's path. The door should immediately reverse.

▪ Force test: Hold up the bottom of the door as it tries to close. If it doesn’t reverse immediately, the force is excessive and in need of adjustment.

▪ No safety features? Your opener is more than 20 years old, and in need of immediate replacement to prevent serious injury and property damage.


3. MAINTAIN

◦ Lubricate.
 Lubricate all hinges, springs and bearings with a non-silicon based spray lubricant. CAUTION: It’s okay to lubricate metal rollers, however you NEVER want to lubricate nylon rollers or tracks!


◦ Tighten bolts.
 These secure components of your garage door to each other, and to your home’s structure.


◦ Schedule.
 Scheduling annual professional garage door maintenance is a simple and inexpensive way to ensure the safety of your family and the lifespan of your garage door system.


◦ Be watchful.
 Always keep children, pets, and your fingers away from door joints and moving parts when your automatic garage door is in operation.

Automatic garage door have you all bent out of shape? Contact R&S Erection of Concord today to schedule your annual professional garage door maintenance inspection today!

How to Decide: Carriage House Style or Standard Garage Door

A garage door is integral to a home's curb appeal and can also affect your home's overall energy efficiency. It's a large expanse of wall so it should complement both the architectural style of your home, as well as the home's surroundings. If you are in the market for a new garage doors, you may be deciding between two of the most popular garage door designs: carriage house or standard garage doors.

Carriage House or Standard Garage Doors: Which Style is Right For Your Home?

Before we continue, lets review garage door style basics.

Carriage Style Garage Doors. These garage doors are very traditional - even historic - in their appearance. Before the advent of the car, households that could afford a carriage typically had a carriage house - often as part of the barn. These doors had to be wide enough to accommodate both carriage and horses, so they were substantial in size. Their exterior facade was designed in accordance with architectural styles of the time, often including beautiful woodwork using recessed or raised-panel designs. Originally constructed using solid wood, modern, carriage house garage doors are now available in aluminum, steel, fiberglass and wood options.

Standard Garage Doors. Once cars outnumbered carriages, carriage house door manufacturers quickly began designing a different kind of exterior door, one that could accommodate automobiles. Since the era of "every household has a car" didn't commence until later in the 20th century, wood garage doors became a high-end option within a few decades, replaced by more affordable and longer-lasting standard garage door options, like aluminum, fiberglass and steel. They are typically made to replicate wood doors - using raised-panel or stamped designs as well.

So, which one is right for your home? In order to answer that, we have a few more questions for you:

1. What's your architectural and neighborhood style? If you live in a historic neighborhood or a high-end neighborhood with a fair amount of traditional design elements, a carriage house style garage door might be for you. They work best with traditional and transitional exterior facades. If you home is modern, you will probably want to stick with a standard garage door style, or a flat panel, solid wood carriage house option that will blend better with the streamlined exterior of your home.

2. What's your personal preference? Do you like the idea of a classic garage door that replicates a carriage house door? There are so many styles to choose from that you are bound to find one that will work with your architecture. Your garage door sales team will work with you to find the door that looks best.

3. Do you prefer a rolling steel door? Rolling steel doors may not be as aesthetically pleasing as their carriage door or raised-panel standard counterparts, but they are the toughest and lowest-maintenance doors on the market. If you like the idea of a rolling steel door, odds are you'll steer away from carriage house door options.

4. What is your budget? The good news is that about 88% of the cost of a new garage door can be recouped when you sell your home. Typically, carriage house garage doors are more expensive than standard garage door options. The average cost for a 16-foot by 7-foot double garage door ranges anywhere from $750 to $3000+ dollars, so the spread is pretty big. Standard doors are on the lower end of the spectrum while a solid wood carriage house door will be on the higher end. Your garage door vendor will be happy to price multiple options so you can choose the one that best fits your budget.

Fire Doors 101

If you're expanding your business, growing your business or are constructing a new building for your business - you may not be familiar with fire doors, how they work, or the fact that building codes require them for virtually every commercial and/or multi-use building.

Fire Doors 101: What Are They?

Fire doors are just one element of a full-scale fire protection system. The full system includes additional fire barriers, including specially treated walls, ceilings and floors. Fire systems prevent the spread of fire and smoke from one area of a building to another or, at the very least, significantly slows their spread so occupants have time to safely exit the building.

Fire doors are legally required as per the International Building Code (IBC) and International Fire Code (IFC) when your building:

• Contains a door that has an "Exit" sign over or around it.

• Where a door leads to an area where flammable or hazardous materials are stored.

• If a door leads to a stairwell or a horizontal exit.

• When a door leads to a hallway or from one completely enclosed room to another.

If you aren't sure whether or not your current business or building is compliant with current fire system regulations, you can contact your local building department and schedule an appointment with a building official.

What Are Fire Doors Made From?

When most people think of fire doors, they imagine boring or plain-Jane commercial doors. In fact, fire doors can have attractive, solid wood facades. The important factor is typically what's inside the door layers. Modern fire doors are built using a combination of materials, including steel, gypsum, wood, vermiculite and/or wire-mesh glass. There are many different types of fire doors and fire door styles. Fire doors can also be purchased via different "Ratings."

What Are Fire Door Ratings?

Fire doors are broken down into categories or "ratings" based on how long their fire/smoke protection should last in the event of a fire. These ratings are as follows:

• 3 Hours: These doors are required for areas that are installed in walls that separate two buildings, or walls that divide a single building into separate, designated fire areas.

• 1.5 Hours: Doors with this rating are designed for areas that open into stairwells or elevators, where an exit occurs via vertical movement. They are also used for doors installed in exterior walls that are considered to have a severe fire exposure from the outside of the building.

• 1 Hour. 1-Hour doors are used to divide occupancies in a building.

• 3/4 Hour (45 minutes). Doors designed to withstand 45 minutes-worth of fire and/or smoke infiltration should be installed where there are openings in corridors, in between room partitions or a door on an exterior wall considered to have moderate to low risk of exterior fire potential.

• 1/3 Hour (20 minutes). Yes! It even gets this specific. The 1/3 hour door has more to do with smoke than fire, and they are installed in corridors where draft and smoke control is required, and where the walls have a fire rating of at least one hour.

Your local building department and/or fire inspector will be able to let you know which doors you need to install where.

One of the most common fire door citations is for companies who have propped open or otherwise tampered with a fire door to keep it open during working hours. This is a big no-no. If you have a fire door that you know will remain open, install a device that automatically releases when the fire alarm is activated (such as an electromagnetic hold open device).

Flush Mount vs. Surface Mount Traffic Spikes

Traffic spikes have many applications, though they may go by a number of names over different times and places. They have been called spike strips, tire shredders, and a variety of other nicknames, but, at base, these devices are an extremely effective way to manage automobile traffic. Although your options include both surface and flush mount spikes, both rely upon long metal barbs, teeth, or upward-pointing spikes to puncture tires and thus impede or halt wheeled vehicles. This makes traffic control spikes an ideal way to direct and control traffic in controlled areas.

Spiking Traffic

Much of the effectiveness for traffic control spikes comes down to their barbs and placement in specific areas. Although they may be either solid or hollow, the barbs are designed to flatten tires when driven over. Hollow barbs, in particular, will embed themselves in tires and so minimize risks for drivers by maintaining a steady pace of air leakage. In terms of the benefits, these devices mainly prevent automobiles and other wheeled vehicles from moving in the wrong direction, especially in one-way traffic lanes or locations. Doing so, though, prevents the many accidents and other issues that could result from such difficult situations.

Surface Control

When you imagine traffic control spikes in your mind, you are likely picturing the more basic surface mount spike strips. Surface mount units combine torsion springs with built-in speed bumps that incorporate bright yellow diamonds for greater visibility. Installation is relatively simple, with the following fundamental steps:

• Plan and prepare the best location for installation based on your specific traffic needs, being sure to order the right number of sections.
• Then, apply epoxy to the necessary sections before adhering them to your chosen asphalt and concrete surfaces in the areas where traffic is to be controlled.

These generally come in 3-foot sections of lock-down spikes that are combined to cover the needed area, with end caps for smooth transitions from such spiked sections.

Ground Control

While they share many of the same features as surface mount ones, flush mount control spikes are in-ground units that sit flush with the ground and so require some excavation. Fundamentally, this kind relies on individual spring-loaded barbs to manage traffic, with the possibility for spring retraction through stainless steel springs, weighted retraction via weight spikes, and lock-down capability, as well. Flush mount spikes are ideal for more permanent installations, but the process is relatively more complex, as it requires a bit more planning before excavation, drainage, and installation of concrete. Such units should be painted bright red for high visibility to vehicle drivers, and speed bumps also have to be installed alongside them to ensure speed control and safe passage of wheeled vehicles.

Both kinds of traffic control spikes require many warning signs to ensure that vehicle drivers are well aware of their presence and of the general flow of traffic, especially in one-way lanes and other special conditions. Similarly, both entail certain risks, especially for use by police who often deploy traffic spikes in high-danger situations. Yet, such use of traffic control spikes has led to innovation, with the creation of remotely deployable units, strips built into parking barriers, and other inventions. More importantly, the overall benefits more than warrant the necessary additions to your controlled locations as surface and flush mount spikes both so effectively and reliably ensure easy management and safe speed for vehicular traffic.