Choosing the appropriate roller door that suits your needs can be a bit confusing. What brand should I go for? Where do I buy from? Not to worry Metro Roller Doors has got you covered!
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What Are Roller Doors?
Roller doors are commonly found in sheds and garages. They are made up of corrugated sheets of aluminum or steel. However, most roller doors used in garages are made of steel. This is because steel is sturdier and can withstand heavier damage than aluminum.
Roller doors are also called rapid roll or high speed doors because they are usually motorized. Their relatively fast opening and closing speeds make them ideal for use in areas with high traffic density.
How Do They Work?
Roller doors Adelaide are made of corrugated aluminum or steel curtains that fold and compress when rolled up to grant access to the garage. Torsion springs embedded into the sheet make opening the doors easy as they bear the doors weight while opening.
Many large roller doors deploy a pulley-and-chain system to manually open them up. Modern roller doors can be motorized, allowing them to be remotely opened (or closed).
Aluminum Roller Doors vs Steel Roller Doors
Aluminum roller doors can also be called insulated roller doors. They are made from two separate double-skinned aluminum rolls, insulated with foam, and joined together to form one single aluminum sheet. They are usually 19mm thick, with each aluminum roll having an average depth of 75mm. Aluminum roller doors are essentially always motor-operated, and most run on electricity.
Steel roller doors are also known as continuous curtain roller doors. They are made from single steel sheets folded together at regular intervals of 750mm to form a continuous steel curtain. This steel curtain is then wrapped around a drum to form a roller door. The larger the distance covered by the door, the thicker the steel needs to be. The depth of corrugation on the steel sheet is also influenced by how much distance the door needs to cover.
Are Roller Doors The Same As Roller Shutters?
Although both terms are often used interchangeably, there are subtle differences between roller doors and roller shutters.
What Should I Consider When Choosing A Roller Door?
Your style and preference are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a roller door. There are many roller door styles to choose from, viz;
Just as the name implies, sliding-style roller doors take open up to the sides. They maximize horizontal space when the vertical space is insufficient, and so are usually wide roller doors.
These doors are usually made of wood. Sometimes, they may be made of galvanized steel. Hinges connect the doors to their frames, and doors swing out towards you when opened.
These doors are made of aluminum or steel -sheets that are rolled around a skeleton drum. To open the door, you roll the sheets up and vice versa.
This is the most common type of roller door today. They are made up of several linked horizontal sections that roll up and down. They can be remotely controlled.
A roller door should be strong enough to deter animal or human intruders. You should know how to use the emergency release pull cord when there is a power outage if yours operates automatically. These doors should also have sensors that detect obstacles on the path that can cause accidents if ignored.
The cost of buying and installing a commercial roller door is another factor to consider when selecting one. Even if youre working with a lean budget, there are a variety of options to choose from.
Roller doors are made up of different kinds of materials. These include;
This is a common choice for many industrial roller doors manufacturers. Steel or aluminum doors are very durable and relatively easy to maintain. They can be pricey but are great choices for providing security.
Many modern roller doors incorporate glass in their designs and composition. They provide aesthetic effects and help brighten up the room. They also serve as good protection against harsh weather conditions.
Plastic resins and wood fiber form the general composition of composite roller doors. They are not only durable but also have the added benefit of being lighter than wood. They are relatively easier to maintain compared to wooden roller doors.
These wide roller doors are usually made of wood, and so are traditionally heavy. They contribute beautifully to your homes aesthetics. However, they have limited options for usage, and are prone to high maintenance costs.
The prevailing climatic conditions in your locale determine what kind of roller door to buy. If you have steel doors and live in an area with frequent rainfall or snow, your doors will be susceptible to rust. If you have wooden doors, you may want to guard against ants and termites.
Are you interested in learning more about single roller for door? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
If youre still not sure what roller door to buy or if you need roller door repairs Adelaide, then reach us at Metro Roller Doors! We are just a call away!
Articles
30th January
Roller Garage Doors ExplainedExplanation of the differences between steel single skin and aluminium double skinned roller garage doors.
Roller garage doors are one of the most popular types of garage doors being sold in the U.K. right now, and its easy to see why:
- Vertical opening and closing saving space on your driveway
- Very little intrusion into your garage internally
- All doors made to order maximising width and height
- Quiet during operation
- Large choice of finished colours and woodgrain finishes
- Can be fitted inside, inbetween or outside the garage opening
- Very secure (with the right specification)
- Universally appealing with clean, unfussy design
- Wide choice of access control methods for electric operated models
What are the Main Differences Between Steel and Aluminium Roller Shutters?
If you carry out some basic research, you will soon discover that roller garage doors are only available in steel and aluminium (referred to as double skinned or insulated roller shutters by most manufacturers), but what are the main differences between the two?
Steel Roller Garage Doors
At present it is quite easy to identify the steel roller garage doors in the UK as there are only 2 main manufacturers Gliderol and Garage Door Systems (Ireland). The steel roller garage doors are constructed from large sections of single skin sheet steel which are jointed together about every 750mm to form one complete continuous curtain which is then attached to and rolled around a skeleton drum to produce a roller garage door.
Inside the skeleton drum is a steel tube section which has a spring attached around it and they are all connected together in order that tension may be applied to the spring to act as a balance for the door adjustable depending on the size and weight of the door curtain. The steel tube extends out each end of the roll and is used to secure the entire roller door onto steel brackets that are fixed to the inside face of the garage structure (see diagram).
The whole roller door is simple in design and fairly light weight to operate and when the door is required to be electrically operated a simple motor system is easily bolted onto one end of the roller door and controlled by a control box and remote control handsets as required. There are a few variations in electric motors used but they all fit externally at one end of the roll are always 24V and use the same kind of sensing used in normal garage door operators where the motor unit will sense a voltage surge if the door is obstructed and stop immediately and reverse.
A wall mounted control panel with built in light, pushbutton control and a receiver for the radio control signal from the transmitters is all fairly standard specification
Aluminium Roller Doors
Nearly all aluminium roller garage doors in the UK are constructed from individual double skinned slats usually with a foam filled core and are about 19mm thick as an average. Each aluminium slat is usually about 75mm deep and they all vary slightly in the front face design, some have totally smooth surface, some have a thin line or two as a feature in the design. The slat always has a curved shape and this enables the curtain to roll efficiently.
The differences between this door and the steel roller garage door are quite apparent but there are so many manufacturers now in the UK it is difficult to generalise. One of the biggest differences is that aluminium roller doors always use a tube motor system for electric operation and nearly all doors are electric as it is quite difficult to produce a satisfactory manual version. With a barrel type motor system on any roller door there is a minimum level of safety required as the motors simply drive up or down under power and need other external devices to control the movement.
The full details on safety requirements on insulated aluminium roller doors using tube motor can be found in our Are you prepared to gamble article and we suggest you do read it as unfortunately there are so many roller door manufacturers completely ignoring the current legal requirements on safety and also claiming the doors to be CE compliant. A remote control electric roller door is in the eyes of the law a machine and comes under regulations relating to this simple fact.
Aluminium roller garage doors offer a much higher level of insulation, security, practicality and style than the more basic steel doors and have far greater variations in application as there are so many different sized slats to choose from with almost any colour ultimately available in paint finishes as well as a huge choice of woodgrain finished laminate coatings.
The guides for the door curtain are usually between 60 to 100mm wide and offer greater resistance to forced entry attempts and high winds.
The curtain roll size is smaller than a steel roller door as the individual slats roll up tighter an important factor for maximising drive through height when open if internal headroom is restricted.
The curtain is stronger as the slats are double skinned and foam filled.
The operation is quieter as the motor is inside the roll and DC operated as well as the tolerances between the curtain and the guides being smaller reducing the chance of rattling in windy conditions.
The electric motor is controlled as standard using a wall mounted control box with built in lighting, pushbutton controls and a receiver for the radio hand transmitters supplied with rolling code technology used on higher specification models.
With superior aluminium roller garage doors the sealing is far superior as the curtain is rolled off the barrel completely when closed and then pushes against the inside of the lintel. Basic roller doors have a large gap appear at the top when closed as the curtain roll shrinks in size when closed exposing a gap between the back of the lintel and the front of the door curtain.
The sealing at the bottom is always better as aluminium roller doors have a greater degree of flexibility in closing up gaps on out of level floor surfaces as the slats have a small movement between each one and on an average height door of 21 slats this gives a lot of available movement.
Generally the strength, stability and security of aluminium double skinned roller doors is higher than any single skin constructed door offering extra benefits all round.
Which Roller Doors Should I look to buy?
This is simple; make sure you only consider roller garage doors manufactured by reputable, established manufacturers complying with all the relevant CE requirements for the UK market.
Most prices are very similar at the front-end and, discounts you can obtain will vary enormously but the one thing you must make sure is that the sizing, specification and installation is correct. Roller doors may seem simple but installed incorrectly they will fail quickly as there are many stresses and moving parts and some doors can be over 5 metres wide, a large moving object by any standard!
Also make sure you have the eventuality of a power supply failure covered the minimum cover is a manual override system enabling a winding system to be used internally to open and close the door without power. This can be extended to operate from outside the garage if you do not have a side door. Improvements in technology and pricing enables the use of a battery back up system to ensure several operations after the mains power has failed and this is a good system to consider.
Manufacturers to Consider:
SeceuroGlide
Gliderol
Hormann
Garador
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