Fall…it’s everyone’s favorite season. The leaves are changing, the sweltering humidity of summer is starting to fade, Halloween decorations are showing up on store shelves. And your poor, neglected automatic doors are begging for some love and attention. Those swirling autumn leaves are great for ambience, but not so great when they start gunking up your entry system. Here are just a few things to keep an eye on as the weather starts to change.
Keep Your Tracks Clear
You might have the best set of automatic sliding doors in the world. But if your tracks are clogged, there won’t be a whole lot of sliding going on. Make sure to clear off any seasonal debris, like twigs and leaves, from your door and the surrounding areas. Scrub off any dirt and grime that’s built up over the summer. And you might even have to clean up something random, like a child’s toy, a loose coin, or a piece of gum. Whatever that debris might look like, if your door isn’t fully engaging the track, it all adds up to a huge headache.
Keep the Outdoors Clean
This is a concern that usually flies under the radar. But take a look outside. Is there litter in the parking lot? How long has it been since you hosed down the patio out front? And then you have the sidewalks that are always covered in…who knows what. Well, those outdoor areas might not seem like they’re your problem. But when the wind kicks up, or your customers step in…whatever that is…your doors may pay the price. A great way to keep your entry system’s tracks clean is by nipping those problems in the bud—cleaning your outdoor areas helps you manage your indoor problems.
Listen for Grinding
If you’re not a professional, some of the trickier problems to diagnose are the problems that you just can’t see. For example, you might hear your doors grinding. And that could point to a few different things. You might have alignment issues. You might need to re-lubricate. Or you might need to give the motorized components a little extra attention. But whatever the case may be, if your doors are making a grinding noise, they’re trying to tell you something: “Call ADA!” We’ll come take a look and get everything squared away and back to running smoothly.
Keep an Eye Out for Rubbing
Let’s say that you have an automatic swinging door. Eventually, that door might start to sag, and all of a sudden, your doors are interacting with the floor. That results in an issue called “rubbing.” If the rubbing is subtle, you might hear a light scraping noise. And if the rubbing is more pronounced, you might see damage to your floor. In either case, that extra bit of resistance means your door is working harder than normal, which is going to wear it out much faster. The good news is that we know exactly how to fix it. But you’ll need to get us out there ASAP before that problem starts to snowball.
Be Mindful of the Hardware
Many automatic doors contain a fair amount of glass, which is obviously quite fragile. Be sure to keep any potentially damaging objects (such as ornamental vases, signage, etc.) clear of that glass, because if it’s cracked or broken it can be pretty expensive to replace. More importantly, damaged or broken glass can be a huge safety hazard. So, give your doors a wide berth to protect the glass and the people inside of your building. You’ll also want to maintain the door frame and any of the other visible components, like the drive-arm. That helps prevent costly breakdowns and stoppages. It also helps manage workplace safety concerns and the legal liability that could follow.
Sign Up for our ProActive Programs
If you’re managing a building or property, your automatic doors are probably not the first thing on your to-do list. But they are the first thing on ours. Sign up for our ProActive Maintenance Program, and let us take it from there. We’ll come out at least twice per year to do some tightening, adjusting, and lubricating, and to give the whole shebang a thorough check to identify and nullify any potential issues. And through our ProActive Fire Door Inspection Program, we do a similar checkup that keeps your building as safe as possible in the event of a fire, and keeps you on the right side of the building code.
Stay Ahead of the (Safety) Curve
A big part of maintaining your doors is making sure you’re always ahead of the curve. Is there a new technology that offers better performance? Is there a new way to make your building even safer? You never know until you ask. For example, we now offer a safety product called Won-Door. These are sliding doors that automatically activate during a fire or can be closed in a lockdown (shooter) situation, which gives the fire department or police time to arrive. They protect the building and, most importantly, the people inside.
Rest assured, ADA will never recommend a product or service you don’t need. But you can be secure in the knowledge that we do keep up with the latest and greatest in industry standards, and we’re always ready to offer solutions that are best for your property, your bottom line, and your peace of mind.
Give us a call today to see how we can help chip away at your fall maintenance list.