Take Advantage of Summer Vacation to Make Needed Repairs
School’s just about out for the summer, but that doesn’t mean your automatic doors get to go on break when the kids do. In fact, summer break is the perfect time to get some well-needed maintenance done without having to worry about interrupting the school’s schedule or dealing with the constant flow of visitors and students in and out of the building. Read on to learn how this time of year can be especially helpful for your automatic doors.
Why Do Your Doors Need Maintenance?
During the school year, your automatic doors are opening and closing multiple times a day in all types of weather—rain, snow, wind, and sunshine. With that much activity, your doors are bound to sustain some wear and tear by the time school lets out for the summer. Belts, gears, pivots, and guide rails might be worn out or bent out of shape, while door sensors might not be functioning as well as they should. And with fewer people coming and going during the summer, these issues might not be as noticeable until it’s time to open your doors back up for students at the start of the next school year. This can lead to potentially annoying situations (like doors sticking open or not fully shutting), expensive ones (like having to call for emergency repairs during the school day), or even dangerous ones (like doors closing before someone is fully through the entrance).
Rather than just take the gamble that your automatic door equipment is still working after the school year ends, take advantage of the break in foot traffic and call our team of experts to give them a thorough check-over.
What Kind of Maintenance Should Be Done?
As a first step, hire a company that’s certified by the American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM) to come out and give all your automatic doors and swing operators a thorough inspection—this will ensure that any and all necessary repairs and upgrades will be up to the latest safety and security codes.
As an example of what you can expect during these inspections, at ADA, our AAADM-certified team will test out all your equipment to see if they notice any strange noises or behaviors. They’ll clear all of your doors’ tracks, adjust rollers, and test sensors and battery back-ups, replacing any that are needed, and check everything against the current American National Standards Institute (ANSI) safety standards. They’ll also adjust, lubricate, and replace any mechanical parts that need attention, and will do a final test to ensure everything’s in working order before giving you a final service report that details all the work that was done for your records.
While you’re getting your automatic doors inspected, you should also consider getting all of your manual Fire Doors and Emergency Exit Doors inspected to ensure that everything is working as it should in case of an emergency. ADA offers a ProActive Fire Door Inspection service where our team of technicians, all of whom have gone through rigorous training and who are fully certified through the National Fire Protection Association, will take an in-depth look at all of your Fire Doors and Emergency Exit Doors. We will identify any issues, make repairs, and then provide you with a detailed report, so you can feel confident about the safety of your doors going into the next school year.
Additional Steps to Take
In addition to getting your doors inspected and maintained regularly by professionals, performing your own daily inspections and training your school’s maintenance personnel to perform these checks will help your doors last longer and stay safer throughout the year. Make sure that your maintenance staff also has all the proper documentation and reports from your inspections and has ADA’s contact information on hand in case any emergencies pop up.
Kids deserve our attention and our focus on safety all year long, even when they’re not in the building. That’s why our team of professionals is here to help get your automatic doors fully operational and compliant with the latest safety standards this summer, well before the next school year starts. Give us a call today!