Seven services, two groups

Commercial Door Services in Charlotte, NC

Four leaf assemblies and three hardware systems, all of them swinging pedestrian openings inside Charlotte. The comparison below puts the four assemblies side by side on seven axes so you can identify yours, and each row links to the page that covers it. Call (333) 333-3333.

Call (333) 333-3333 See the seven services

Comparison

Four commercial leaf assemblies, compared

These are the four swinging pedestrian leaf assemblies we work on in Charlotte. The comparison covers all four on every axis — no cell is blank and no cell is a dash. Where no published figure exists for an axis, the cell says so in words, because an empty cell reads as data and it is not.

n = 4 assemblies. Overhead sectional, coiling, high-speed, revolving and automatic sliding assemblies are outside this class and outside our lane, so they are not in the table and we do not take them on.

Four commercial pedestrian leaf assemblies compared on seven axes. n = 4.
Assembly	What the leaf actually is	Governing standard	Published endurance rating	Fire-rated version available	What fails first	Covered on
Hollow metal (steel)	Two steel face sheets over a stiffened or mineral core. Face gauge runs 20, 18, 16 or 14 for performance Levels 1 through 4.	ANSI/SDI A250.8 for construction and performance level. ANSI/SDI A250.4 for physical endurance.	A250.4 Level A is 1,000,000 cycles with latching, Level B is 500,000 and Level C is 250,000.	Yes, and this is the most commonly rated assembly in commercial buildings. Ratings from 20 minutes to 3 hours.	The frame anchors and the bottom of the leaf, both before the face sheets. Corrosion starts at the toe of the frame where water sits.	Hollow Metal Openings and Frames
Aluminum storefront	Extruded aluminum stile and rail with an infill panel. Described by stile width — narrow, medium or wide — not by a gauge.	No single face-sheet construction standard equivalent to A250.8. The hardware on it is graded under the ANSI/BHMA A156 series.	Not published as an assembly rating. The cycle figures that exist belong to the hardware, not to the leaf.	Not generally available as a rated assembly. A rated opening in a storefront line is normally a separate hollow metal or rated glazing assembly.	The mechanically joined corners rack before anything else, and a racked leaf is what produces the drag and the latching complaint.	Aluminum Storefront Entry Systems
Wood flush / architectural	A particleboard, staved lumber or mineral core with veneer or laminate faces and edge banding on all four edges.	WDMA I.S.1-A for architectural wood flush doors. Rated leaves additionally carry the label of their listing agency.	Not published as a cycle count. The published performance is a duty level and a warranty term rather than a cycle test.	Yes, up to 90 minutes in most listings. The rating is carried by the core, which is why a field cut to the leaf can void it.	Moisture at the bottom rail, then the hinge screws, then the edge banding. In that order, and usually in that sequence.	Wood and Flush Door Repair
FRP (fibreglass reinforced polyester)	A fibreglass-faced leaf over an insulated core, normally with a pultruded stile frame. Common in kitchens, wash-down areas and coastal or chemical environments.	No single industry-wide construction standard. Performance is stated per manufacturer against corrosion and impact test data.	Not published as an assembly rating. Manufacturers publish corrosion and impact data instead of a cycle count.	Limited. Rated FRP assemblies exist but availability is narrow, so a rated opening is rarely specified in FRP.	The hardware and the frame, not the leaf. The leaf outlasts the opening around it, which is the whole reason it gets specified.	Hollow Metal Openings and Frames

Not in this table, and not in our lane

Automatic, power-operated and low-energy swing operators.
Overhead sectional, rolling steel and high-speed doors.
Revolving doors and balanced doors.
All-glass and frameless glass assemblies, and any glazing replacement.
Fire door inspection certification and written FDAI reports. We will tell you what we found and put it right; we do not issue the certificate.

Door and frame assemblies

What the leaf is made of. This decides the part, the lead time and most of the cost.

Aluminum Storefront Entry Systems

Extruded aluminum entrances — the doors the public touches, and the ones that rack at the corners before they fail anywhere else.

Aluminum Storefront Entry Systems

Hollow Metal Openings and Frames

Steel leaves and frames — where the wall gives up before the door does, and corrosion starts at the toe of the frame.

Hollow Metal Openings and Frames

Wood and Flush Door Repair

Architectural wood and flush leaves — moisture at the bottom rail, then hinge screws, then edge banding. In that order, nearly always.

Wood and Flush Door Repair

Fire-Rated Door Assemblies

Labelled openings — clearances, positive latching, and the closer somebody turned down until the door stopped doing its job.

Fire-Rated Door Assemblies

Hardware systems

What operates the leaf. This decides whether the opening works, whether it complies, and whether it stays secure.

Panic Hardware and Egress Devices

Push bars and exit devices — rim, mortise, surface vertical rod and concealed vertical rod, and the difference between panic and fire exit hardware.

Panic Hardware and Egress Devices

Door Closers and Operating Force

Closers, arms, sweep and latch speed, and the published opening force limits that decide whether an opening complies.

Door Closers and Operating Force

Commercial Locks, Cylinders and Keying

Mortise and bored locksets, cylinders and keying schedules — and the egress rule that decides what is allowed on the opening.

Commercial Locks, Cylinders and Keying

Most jobs are one from each group

A storefront entrance that drags and will not latch is an assembly problem and a hardware problem at the same time, and fixing the second without the first is why it comes back. When we quote an opening we quote the opening, not the symptom that got reported.

Opening router

Find the page that covers your opening

Pick what the door is made of and what it is doing. This tells you which page covers it and the two or three facts worth having in front of you before you call. It does not quote and it does not diagnose from a distance — it points you at the right lane and tells you what we will ask.

Showing all 14 openings.

Commercial door symptoms by assembly, with the page that covers each and what to have ready before calling
Assembly	What it is doing	Page that covers it	Have this ready
Aluminum storefront	Drags on the threshold or catches on one corner	Aluminum Storefront Entry Systems	Which corner catches, and whether the gap at the top is even across the leaf.
Aluminum storefront	Will not latch, or latches only if you pull it	Aluminum Storefront Entry Systems	Whether it is a hookbolt, a deadlatch or a panic device, and whether the strike shows a bright wear mark.
Aluminum storefront	Blows open or slams in wind	Door Closers and Operating Force	Whether it is a surface closer or a floor closer, and which way the door faces.
Hollow metal	Frame is loose, moves, or the anchors have pulled	Hollow Metal Openings and Frames	Whether the wall is masonry, stud or precast, and whether the frame was grouted.
Hollow metal	Rusted through at the bottom rail or the frame toe	Hollow Metal Openings and Frames	Roughly how far up the corrosion runs, and whether the opening is exterior or a wash-down area.
Hollow metal	Leaf is bent, dented or has been forced	Hollow Metal Openings and Frames	Whether the door still latches, and whether there is a rating label on the hinge edge.
Wood or flush	Swollen, delaminating or the edge banding has lifted	Wood and Flush Door Repair	Whether the swelling is at the bottom, and whether there is a wet-floor or washroom on one side.
Wood or flush	Hinge screws keep stripping out of the leaf	Wood and Flush Door Repair	How many hinges the leaf has, and whether the door has a closer on it.
Any assembly	Has a fire rating label and something is wrong with it	Fire-Rated Door Assemblies	Photograph the label on the hinge edge of the leaf and the one on the frame rabbet. Both, if they are there.
Any assembly	Gap under the door or around it looks too big	Fire-Rated Door Assemblies	A tape measure reading at the head, both jambs and the undercut. Rounded to the nearest sixteenth is fine.
Any assembly	Push bar is loose, noisy, or does not release cleanly	Panic Hardware and Egress Devices	Whether it is a rim, mortise, surface vertical rod or concealed vertical rod device, if you know.
Any assembly	Too heavy to open, or closes too quickly or too slowly	Door Closers and Operating Force	Whether the opening is on an accessible route, and whether the leaf carries a fire rating label.
Any assembly	Key turns hard, cylinder is worn, or keying is a mess	Commercial Locks, Cylinders and Keying	How many openings are on the same key, and whether there is an existing keying schedule.
Any assembly	Staff have propped it open because it is unusable	Door Closers and Operating Force	How long it has been propped, and whether the leaf carries a fire rating label. If it does, that is the priority.

Call (333) 333-3333

If you can name the assembly, the call takes two minutes.

Call (333) 333-3333