When you’re getting your commercial door repaired or replaced you might wonder: how did the door get like this and is there a way that you can prevent the damage in the future? There are a few major sources of commercial door damage that you can indeed protect your door from. Of course, there are also some that you can’t. We will elaborate on the main ways that commercial doors get damaged and how you can prevent them (if you can) below.
Aging
No matter how well-made a door is, aging will eventually damage it. After normal use and normal exposure to the elements, aging materials will begin to crack, fade, break, warp, corrode and just give up. That’s alright, because if you’ve reached this point, your door has served you well for a long time.
Propping
When someone props open your door, they put stress on the hinges, hardware and face of the door. Repeated propping is known to cause the failure of door closers and other hardware, leave marks and scratches in the door, and can even be a cause for warping if the door is propped open against a baseboard heater. Propping is also a security issue. To protect your door and your building, educate staff and tenants against propping the door open. You can also choose an access control system to make accessing the door simpler, preventing the need for people to prop the door open.
Extreme Weather
Extreme wind can blow objects into your door that break it. Floods can ruin doors and their frames by swelling or corrosion, depending on the materials. Earthquakes can shift the ground, shifting the buildingand changing the shape of the door frames, so doors no longer fit. Lighting can do significant damage to a door as well. After any kind of extreme weather event, you should check on every door and see how they fared.
Impact
Whether intentional or unintentional, impact can damage or even destroy a door. Criminals will, of course, take all manner of objects to a door, from baseball bats to chainsaws. You can get steel-stiffened doors which can resist the force people can generate by hand. But impacts from car collisions or other major forces can be much more challenging for even these heavy-duty doors.
Lack of Maintenance
When you don’t maintain a door, small issues with it can turn into large ones. Something as simple as not sweeping out debris from the doorway can prevent it from closing and cause the debris to repeatedly knock into the door, leaving a dent. More complicated maintenance, like making sure the door closer is working properly and not placing stress on other parts of the door, is usually only performed by professionals and is also essential to prevent damage to the door.
Vandalism
They weren’t seeking to break your door open, just paint their personal symbols all over it. Vandalism like graffiti, can damage a door, but typically it can be cleaned off. There are even special anti-graffiti coatings you can invest in to prevent the vandal from striking again.
Get your door repaired or replaced today, with the help of our professional team that specializes in commercial locks and doors in Modesto or beyond.
