Garage Door Sizing Guide for Commercial Industries

Commercial Garage Door Sizing Guide 

Investing in a new garage door is a comprehensive process. You must ensure you select the right size for your business. This guide will outline the various dimensions of common commercial garage door types, so you can purchase the one that will fit your facilities. 

Commercial Industries That Use Garage Doors 

When determining industrial garage door sizes, consider the door’s application. Some common applications of garage doors across sectors include the following: 

Car dealerships and showrooms

The automobile industry incorporates garage doors in several ways, especially in showrooms and dealerships. Glass windows and garage doors let customers look at different models while letting the sunlight in. When customers select the car they want, dealerships can raise the doors to get the vehicle out easily. 

Mechanics

Like dealerships, mechanics need better accessibility and flexibility between indoor and outdoor spaces. With garage doors, drivers can pull up to buildings, and mechanics can streamline transportation processes for more efficient services. 

Shipping and storing companies

Warehouses and distribution centers use garage doors to transport products seamlessly across different stages in the shipping process. Trucks can get as close as possible to warehouses with garage doors, increasing efficiency at loading docks. Garage doors can improve processes at touchpoints when organizations want to streamline the supply chain. 

Restaurants

The food and entertainment industries can also benefit from garage doors. Because these doors offer increased flexibility, restaurants and other businesses can use them to transform spaces for increased functionality. When lowered, restaurants can use garage doors as windows or walls. If the weather is nice or the staff needs to increase dining room capacity, they can raise garage doors for a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor seating. 

Your industry and application will determine your commercial garage door’s type and dimensions, so knowing how you’ll most use the door once it’s installed will guide you to the best model for your facility’s needs.

3 Types of Commercial Garage Doors 

Businesses can choose from several types of garage doors, depending on their needs and benefits. Understanding the types can help you make a more informed decision. 

1. Overhead Garage Doors 

Overhead garage doors are popular in commercial and residential applications. They are comprised of multiple panels that fit together with hinges. Rollers control how the door lowers and rises, and it rests parallel to the ceiling when up. You can select various operation methods to match your business’s needs, including remote and manual options. 

This option is popular because of its many benefits, including: 

• Durability: Commercial overhead doors are sturdy and durable, making them ideal choices for optimizing their functionality and life span. Your overhead door will continue to perform well for years to come. 
• Material: This door option is excellent when prioritizing aesthetics and functionality. Commercial overhead garage doors come in many materials, including stainless steel, aluminum, glass and fiberglass. You can adapt it to your industry’s applications and needs while continuing to receive excellent quality. 
• Weather-resistance: Along with its durability, this door type can withstand all weather phenomena, regardless of your local climate. You can count on an overhead garage door to protect your business and its goods. 

While overhead doors are an excellent option for many businesses, consider them thoroughly before investing. If you lack the proper overhead area, you might opt for a more space-efficient option. 

2. Roll-Up Garage Doors 

When businesses want something similar to overhead doors but lack the space, roll-up options are beneficial. Instead of rollers holding the door against the ceiling, roll-up garage doors have a coil that sits above the frame that wraps itself around when raised. This door type has smaller panels, letting it coil tightly to minimize space. 

Some benefits of choosing a commercial roll-up garage door include: 

• Space-efficiency: Roll-up doors optimize available space because of their design and storage solution. The coil and smaller panels let roll-up garage doors take up the least amount of stage when raised. This solution might be right for you if your facility has limited overhead space or crowded transitional areas. 
• Easy to operate: You can streamline the implementation process after installing a new garage door with roll-up options because it is easy to use. The simple controls let you save time on training and make it easier for employees to operate it. Having a simplified solution might benefit your operations and employees if you have to open and close doors frequently. 
• Durability: Like overhead doors, roll-up options are durable and robust. They usually come in stainless steel, helping protect them from the weather and other threats for a long-lasting solution. 

Roll-up garage doors suit many businesses and industries. Because they are similar, understanding the benefits can help you choose between roll-up and overhead options. 

Insulated Garage Doors 

Insulated doors are better at maintaining internal conditions and keeping external ones outside. Using this option offers several benefits in industrial and commercial applications, including: 

• Energy-efficiency: Because insulated garage doors are excellent at keeping external temperature and moisture out, your business can save money on heating and cooling. When you can better maintain your internal temperature without external interference, systems spend less energy and effort trying to heat or cool spaces. This benefit can also lengthen your heating and cooling system’s life span. 
• Protection: In addition to lower costs and efficiency, your business can better preserve and protect your stored products. Some equipment or goods require particular temperatures and air conditions to maintain quality. Insulated doors can lock moisture out and keep the temperature closer to its settings. 
• Durability: An insulated garage door is sturdy and durable, ensuring quality performance throughout its life span. 

Whether your business is somewhere hot or cold, insulated garage doors can provide the care and protection you need. 

Commercial Garage Door Sizes By Type 

Each door type comes in different sizes. Choosing the option that aligns with your standard warehouse door size or specific application ensures your choice will fit your facility and space. While each model and type has unique dimensions, these industry standards represent most and will fit common trucks:

• Commercial overhead door sizes: Overhead doors typically measure 32 feet by 2 inches wide and 24 feet by 1 inch tall. 
• Roll-Up door sizes: When selecting a commercial roll-up door, they will typically be around 30 feet by 4 inches in width and 28 feet by 4 inches in height. 
• Insulated door sizes: Insulated doors are the smallest of the commercial models. However, their efficiency and other benefits balance out the diminished size. Commercial insulated garage doors are 30 feet by 2 inches wide and 24 feet by 1 inch high. 

Invest in Commercial Garage Doors With Garage Door Specialists, Inc. 

When you know exactly what you need, you are ready to invest and install. At Garage Door Specialists, Inc., we offer several services to help streamline the installation and implementation process for businesses purchasing a new door. Our wide selection of commercial doors makes it easy to find everything your company needs. Our technicians will visit your location for a free site check and installation estimate, ensuring you have the right door for your space and a clear idea of costs. 

Explore our commercial door selection today, or contact us to learn more about our installation services.

Which Is Better for Your Application: Rolling or Sectional Steel Doors?

Rolling versus Sectional Steel Garage Doors

Just as every garage serves a specific purpose, so too should every garage door accommodate the space’s unique needs. When considering different commercial garage doors, many people compare steel rolling garage door benefits to steel sectional garage door benefits. In the debate between steel sectional vs. rolling steel garage doors, it’s sometimes difficult to identify which suits your needs.

Thankfully, our team at Garage Door Specialists have extensive knowledge about all types of commercial garage doors. We’re happy to help identify the benefits of each and highlight a few points to consider as you make your decision to purchase a new garage door.

Benefits of Rolling Steel Garage Doors

Rolling steel doors are fantastic resources for commercial settings. You might hear people call them overhead rolling doors, roll-up doors and coiling garage doors. Their mechanism retracts the steel rolls together into a compact coil. These overhead rolling doors are applicable in the interior and exterior of a space. Their versatility, combined with their small footprint, ease of maintenance and attractive design, offer distinct advantages, including increased security, durability and insulation.

Rolling steel doors create layers of protection and locking mechanisms to provide exceptional security. The strong materials used in their design provide substantial durability that enables them to withstand heavy usage, wear and tear for years, which includes standing up to severe weather, corrosion and rust. These steel doors can also have a layer of foam insulation that reduces the transfer of both heat and noise.

One of the more popular types of overhead rolling doors used in commercial settings are fire-rated roll-up doors. These steel roller doors enhance safety and security by rolling down automatically when triggered by smoke to prevent fires from spreading. With customization offering additional benefits, rolling steel doors are applicable for interior and exterior use in businesses of all sizes.

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Benefits of Sectional Steel Doors

Sectional garage doors are among the most popular types of garage doors available, particularly for residential applications. Steel sectional garage doors have wider panels than those of rolling steel doors, and rest parallel to the ceiling when retracted. Like steel roller doors, steel sectional garage door benefits are versatile enough to cater to your unique needs. For instance, you can opt to include windows, insulation or added hardware. Steel doors are generally affordable for all budgets and require little maintenance.

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As one of the leading types of commercial garage doors, steel sectional doors offer a range of benefits. Although they don’t roll into a coil like rolling steel doors do, steel sectional doors are still relatively compact. They also feature strong, durable materials that resist damage and provide enhanced security. If you need better climate control of your interior, choose insulation.

Considerations When Choosing Rolling vs Sectional Steel Garage Doors

Now that you have a general idea of the benefits sectional steel doors and steel roller doors provide, let’s venture deeper into the decision-making process and identify a few crucial considerations. Depending on your specific application, you’ll need to consider additional factors such as each door’s performance, ease of installation, cost and overall maintenance.

Performance

No matter which types of commercial garage doors you choose, performance will be one of your top priorities. Performance is the way to assess how well a door can handle heavy usage. Some garage doors can meet high-efficiency metrics, such as completing hundreds of thousands of cycles before wearing down. 

Typically, rolling steel doors will offer higher cycle ranges than steel sectional doors. However, more is not always necessary. Depending on how much traffic will come in and out of your garage, the “performance” you desire may be a reliable, cost-effective door, even though it doesn’t yield a six-figure cycle range.

Mounting

Before considering space requirements, you must first think about the best way to mount the garage door. Different lift mounts will require space either directly above or beside the doorway, or overhead behind the doorway. For example, you can have rolling steel doors mounted to the walls instead of the ceiling, while sectional steel doors require ceiling or roof support. 

Since rolling steel doors can attach to the walls, they require limited overhead space, which is ideal for smaller garages. However, there are various ways to mount steel sectional garage doors. These include a standard lift, a high lift for high ceilings, a vertical lift to bring the entire door straight up or a low-headroom lift for limited overhead spaces.

Space

The physical space necessary to install any garage door is a factor many commercial and residential property owners forget about at first. Steel sectional doors will take up more overhead space than rolling ones, which significantly limits property owners with low ceilings or smaller garages.

Consider how many resources are above you: fire sprinklers, lighting, HVAC vents, hanging storage shelves and hanging promotional materials like banners or signs. Steel sectional doors may block these, whereas an overhead rolling door will contain itself in a compact coil that takes up limited overhead space in your garage.

Cost

Cost factors into every decision you make for your business. However, it’s vital to understand that “cost-effective” and “cheap” are not the same. No matter which garage door you choose, you should always make sure it has reliable parts and comes from a trustworthy garage door company.

In many cases, steel sectional doors are more cost-effective than steel roller doors because they feature one-piece construction. You must also consider the long-term cost associated with each door. For instance, the steel sectional door may have a smaller upfront cost, but rolling steel doors typically have a smaller lifetime cost, as they’re more durable and require less maintenance.

Size

While space is a critical concern, the size of the door is another aspect that requires some thought. Depending on your garage opening, you may need a door that meets non-standard specifications. A size variance ranging from half an inch to an inch may not seem large, but such details are vital.

It’s possible to custom-fit many rolling steel doors to the exact dimensions required. In most cases, you can also get steel sectional doors modified. However, their modification limits may be predetermined increments ranging from 2″ to 3″ to 18″ to 24″. Modifications on either door will still look attractive, but if your dimensions are uncommon, a rolling steel door may provide a better fit.

Security and Maintenance

Although sectional steel doors feature single-piece construction, they often have more components in their overall mounting and installation than rolling steel doors do. With fewer exposed parts, rolling steel garage doors take less wear and tear over time. They’re also more likely to have grease-coated springs that resist damage from rust and low temperatures.

Regarding security, both will secure your garage and everything inside it. Generally speaking, choosing an overhead rolling door over a steel sectional door may lend additional safety because their parts are less exposed. Remember that all commercial garage doors require routine inspection to ensure they’re secure and safe for use.

Steel Sectional vs. Rolling Steel Garage Doors

Still unsure whether a steel sectional garage door or a rolling steel garage door is ideal for your application? We’re here to help. Contact Garage Door Specialists today and tell us the performance and functionality you desire from your garage door. Our knowledgeable team in Western North Carolina will help you choose the right steel roller doors or steel sectional garage doors that meet your unique needs.

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