Industry in North Carolina is booming, and all retailers, manufacturers, distributors and service providers need to store and secure their property behind a resilient, reliable barrier. If your business selects the right kind of garage doors for its specific needs, you can rest assured knowing your products, premises and personnel are safe. This comprehensive buyer’s guide will act as your compass and direct you toward the perfect choice.
How Do I Choose a Commercial Garage Door for My NC Business?
There are several factors to consider when choosing a garage door for an industrial or commercial facility in North Carolina. Your location, its weather patterns, the size of your vehicles and products and your price range are all important points to address with your garage door service provider.
Consider North Carolina’s Climate
North Carolina’s hot, humid summers can introduce moisture into storage spaces, inviting mold and mildew as well as product and equipment damage. Businesses in NC should pick garage doors with excellent header and jamb seals so no moisture enters their facility. Although the region only receives moderate rainfall, it is known to experience hurricanes, particularly along the coast, and the occasional tornado inland. Heavy-duty, impact-rated garage doors will fare best against this rough weather.
Determine What Size Door You Need
Commercial garage doors can range from eight feet to over 40 feet wide and stand up to 24 feet tall. If you’re storing huge vehicles like harvesters or planes, go for the tallest doors with enough width to accommodate the largest vehicle spaciously. For a car park at an office block or retail hub, you’ll want to prioritize width — especially if you have more than two lanes of traffic moving in and out of the space. For off-street loading bays, ensure your clearance height is 14 feet or more to satisfy county building codes.
Decide on Your Price Range
Prices for commercial garage doors vary greatly according to which type you’ve chosen, what width and height you need, your insulation requirements and which customizations or upgrades you’ve selected. To get an accurate idea of what you’re looking to spend on materials and installation, contact your garage door specialist.
What Type of Commercial Garage Door Should I Choose?
The type of commercial garage door you need for your business depends heavily on what kind of industry you’re in. Below are four of North Carolina’s biggest keystone industries and what kind of garage door best suits each one.
1. For Warehouses and Loading Docks
North Carolina’s furniture and pharmaceutical industries are globally recognized, which means they store and distribute a lot of products. A series of wide, durable doors would best fit this type of location. The doors would also have to have advanced security features and excellent moisture-proofing to protect the vast inventory these industries amass.
2. For Processing and Manufacturing Centers
Food and textile processing and manufacturing are other pride points for the Tar-Heel State. Garage doors that protect perishables must have innovative temperature-regulating technology to prevent spoilage or discoloration. A garage door lined with insulating polystyrene would do well to control temperature fluctuations inside the facility.
3. For Large Vehicle Storage
From heavy machinery to aviation, North Carolina has no shortage of sizable vehicles to shelter, being the home of Caterpillar, Bridgestone and UTC Aerospace Systems. Enormous, valuable vehicles like that need the creme of the crop — excellent climate control, top-notch security systems, thick steel exteriors and generous maximum height and width measurements.
4. For Corporate Headquarters
North Carolina is fertile ground for information technology and financial services. As such, it also houses a plethora of corporate headquarters. For these buildings to maintain a sleek, professional, modern look, their commercial garage doors should be designed with aesthetics in mind and come in a wide variety of colors and finishes.
Types of Commercial Garage Doors
There are four specific types of garage doors for commercial use, each with attributes that meet the needs of different industries. Each garage door type comes in a range of steel gauges, colors and finishes and offers window options for visibility and style. Along with these garage door types, expert garage door providers offer security doors for smaller locations, including counter doors and security grilles, to protect storefronts and prevent access to secure areas with lots of foot traffic.
1. Insulated Steel Garage Doors
Commercial garage doors like the Energy Series contain insulating materials like polystyrene that regulate how heat moves through the metal, helping keep the facility cooler in summer and warmer in winter. These insulated doors are sectional, meaning they’re made of several articulating horizontal panels that run on a track that curves at the top. This lets the door rest higher than the height of the garage door when fully open.
There are also premium polyurethane-insulated steel garage doors in the Energy Series with Intellicore® technology that provides the ultimate climate control for businesses housing heat- or cold-sensitive products. They come with a generous maximum height of 40 feet, 2 inches, perfect for large manufacturing and processing facilities.
2. Industrial Garage Doors
Doors from the Industrial Series are highly durable and come in a variety of panel designs, including ribbed steel, flush and raised panels. Because of their resilience, range of customizable sizes and thick steel, they are the top choice for loading docks and warehouses.
3. Architectural Garage Doors
These stunning commercial garage doors use strategically placed windows to let in natural light, provide excellent visibility and create an aesthetically pleasing facade. The Architectural Series garage doors are the perfect choice for restaurants, firehouses, automotive dealerships and corporate headquarters. They come in several patterns with stucco embossing and can accommodate Intellicore® insulating technology for optimal temperature control.
4. Roll-Up Service Doors
These robust curtain barriers are made from pre-finished, galvanized steel or aluminum and are excellent choices for the interiors and exteriors of shopping malls, apartment blocks, big box retailers, wholesalers and factories. The roll-up service doors come in insulated and non-insulated designs, have safety reverse systems and offer a variety of upgrades, including access control and wind load upgrades.
Commercial Garage Door Buyer’s FAQ
Do you have a technical question about commercial garage doors? You can find your answer in our cheat sheet below, or check out our general garage door FAQ for a hub of helpful residential and commercial garage door information.
- How wide is a typical commercial garage door? On average, garage doors used in industrial buildings typically measure 24 feet, 2 inches wide, although they are available in a wide range of sizes to meet the customer’s needs.
- What is the widest commercial garage door? The widest commercial garage door available from North Carolina’s leading suppliers is 40 feet, 2 inches wide.
- How long does it take to install a commercial garage door? Expert garage door installation specialists typically take between two and four hours to complete a standard commercial garage door installation, although this can vary by case.
- How long does a commercial overhead door last? Commercial garage doors can last between 20 and 30 years, depending on the quality of the materials and how regularly they are maintained.
Browse RCS Garage Doors’ Best-Selling Products
At RCS Garage Doors, we provide premium, technologically innovative products for all of North Carolina’s industrial and commercial needs. We advise our customers about the perfect door for their facilities and offer a wealth of installation experience and a dedication to excellent customer service. Get your location set up with aesthetically pleasing, durable security barriers that outperform their competition and contact us online today.
