Tampa commercial roll-up door repair

How a roll-up door works

Rolling steel doors, sometimes called coiling doors, are a single curtain of interlocking steel slats. The curtain travels in two guides, the steel channels fastened to each side of the opening, and wraps around a barrel mounted above the opening when it rises. Because it coils instead of sliding back under the ceiling, it suits buildings with little headroom.

The springs live inside that barrel. They are torsion springs, wound tight so the curtain feels light: on a door in balance, one person can raise it with the hand chain or, on small doors, by hand. Small doors may have a single spring and wide ones several. Brackets at each end hold the barrel to the wall, and a bottom bar with a rubber astragal, the bottom seal, closes the door against the floor.

The curtain is raised by a hand chain hoist, a crank, an operator (the electric motor) or simply by hand. Locks are usually slide bolts on the bottom bar or a hasp for a padlock.

Roll-up door trouble and what causes it

Most roll-up failures announce themselves. Here is what each symptom usually points to:

• The door feels heavy or slides down when let go: tired or broken springs
• The curtain scrapes, binds or stops partway: a bent guide, or a dented slat catching in one
• The curtain has come out of a guide: an impact, or guides worn and spread apart
• The bottom bar is bent and the door no longer seals or locks
• The operator hums, stalls, or runs without lifting the curtain
• The hand chain slips or the chain jumps its sprocket
• Rust on the guides, the bottom bar and the barrel brackets near salt water

A roll-up door that binds is under strain from end to end. Forcing it with the operator or the chain can drag the curtain further out of line or break a spring. Stop using it, keep people out from under the curtain and call (813) 836-7187.

What our commercial roll-up door repair includes

Springs. We let the tension down under control, change broken or tired springs inside the barrel and wind the door back into balance. Spring work on a rolling door is dangerous: never loosen the tension wheel, the barrel bracket bolts or the set screws yourself.

Guides and alignment. We straighten bent guides, set the curtain back in them and adjust the guides so it runs true. Where a dented slat catches on a guide, we ease the dent and the guide so the curtain passes cleanly. A curtain torn or creased across its width is past repair, and we will tell you so.

Bottom bar and astragal. We straighten a bent bottom bar or fit a fresh one, then add a matching astragal so the door seals against the floor and the slide bolts line up with their slots.

Operators, hoists and locks. We repair the operator's controls, limit settings and drive, the hand chain and its sprockets, and the slide bolts and lock hardware.

Salt air, heat and doors that run all day

Roll-up doors here wear out sooner than their design alone suggests. Salt air reaches most of Pinellas, including mid-county in Pinellas Park, and it rusts guides, end brackets and the bottom bar. Inland in Plant City, Lakeland and Brandon, summer heat and dust are harder on operators and astragals.

A door that runs all day needs regular attention. Clearing the guides, checking spring tension and testing the operator's safety devices once or twice a year catches worn parts before they stop the door. Our maintenance visit and the maintenance checklist cover the same ground for home doors, and the signs your door needs repair apply here too.

When a roll-up door can't wait

A curtain stuck open at closing time, or jammed halfway down, leaves the building open. Treat it like any emergency garage door repair: keep people clear, switch off the operator and call us. We make the door safe and lockable first, then repair it.

We repair roll-up doors across Tampa Bay, including East Lake-Orient Park and the University Area in Hillsborough. Sectional overhead doors and their operators are on our commercial garage door repair page. Our work is repair; taking out a whole curtain and barrel is permit work handled through the city or county building department.

How a visit goes

1. Look at the door at restWe check the curtain, guides, bottom bar and barrel brackets before anything moves.
2. Take the load offFor spring or barrel work, we lock the curtain and let the spring tension down under control.
3. Repair and rebalanceWe fix the springs, guides, bottom bar, hoist or operator, then wind the door back into balance.
4. Run it and lock itWe raise and lower the curtain several times, set the limits and confirm the slide bolts or padlock hasp line up.