Storm Preparedness: How to Check if Your Entrance is Secure

Doors play a critical role in storm defense, serving as both a physical barrier and structural support in the event of adverse weather. Strong doors shield your business and everything inside ‒ equipment, inventory, and electronics, as well as your staff ‒ from water, wind, and extreme temperatures. For businesses operating in vulnerable regions, this short guide to storm preparedness offers practical tips for assessing and securing your entrances, to ensure your business can resume normal operations once conditions improve.

Assess the Type and Condition of Your Doors

If you’re not already familiar with the doors in your facility, take a moment to determine how many types you have. It’s not uncommon for a business to contain several kinds of doors in different parts of their building, including:

• Swinging glass and aluminum doors at the main entrance
• Steel roll-up or overhead doors in the loading dock
• Hollow metal doors in emergency exits

Different doors handle storms differently. Glass doors are vulnerable to debris while rollup or overhead doors may require bracing in order to prevent them from buckling. After making an inventory of your doors, inspect them for visible damage, such as cracks, dents, and rust. Also take a moment to review their maintenance records, which should contain information on their last service dates, as well as loose or worn components.

Check Door Hardware and Fasteners

During a storm, high winds can blow a door loose, sometimes tearing it free of the building entirely! To ensure your door remains secure, inspect the mounting hardware (hinges, pivots, and closers) anchoring the door to the frame and make sure it’s tightly secured and functional. Any parts that don’t meet commercial-grade and wind-load standards should be replaced. Consult the American National Standards Institute and Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association for guidance or schedule an appointment with a certified inspector.

Review Door Seals and Weather Stripping

Weatherstripping is made from rubber, plastic, or vinyl gaskets installed along your doors’ jamb, threshold, and header. The gaskets compress when the door is closed, creating a tight seal that prevents air and water from seeping in. Look for gaps in coverage, as well as cracked, frayed or torn weatherstripping that doesn’t present a consistent barrier to debris, moisture, and outside temperatures.

Evaluate Glass and Impact Resistance

While no glass is unbreakable, impact-resistant glass is tested for hurricane forces, including wind pressures that simulate speeds of up to 200 mph. Standard glass doesn’t offer anywhere near this level of protection. If you don’t know whether your doors contain impact glass, check the “bug” ‒ a monogram label etched into the lower right hand corner of commercial glass panes, which contains the manufacturer’s name, thickness, certifications, and standards, as well as the type of glass.

If your doors contain standard glass instead of impact resistant glass, consider upgrading them. For a lower cost solution, add a layer of security film or install hurricane shutters. Plywood boards are another solution. Though they’re inconvenient, putting them up and taking them down is less costly than permanently upgrading your building.

Inspect Frame and Surrounding Structure

Besides making sure the door is anchored to the frame, you’ll need to make sure the frame is anchored to the building as well. Check for cracks, splits, or warping, signs the frame is becoming unsecure. Discoloration and soft spots may also indicate that the underlying structure has begun to rot. Other signs the entryway has been compromised:

• Difficulty Opening and Closing. Loose or damaged frames can become misaligned, causing the door to stick when you open and close it.
• Uneven Jambs. If the space between the door and the frame is uneven, it may be out of alignment, possibly due to loose anchorage.
• Twisted Frame. Moisture changes, improper installation, settling or shifting of the building, and excessive force when opening or closing can cause the frame to warp, bend, or move out of square, undermining its integrity.

Install Temporary or Long-Term Reinforcements

Adding vertical or horizontal braces inside your door helps distribute wind pressure, ensuring your doors aren’t bent or broken during a storm. You may also want to consider adding storm bars to reinforce the leaf of the door, as well as additional locking points to hold the door firmly in place.

However, these are short-term solutions. Upgrading your doors saves time and money in the long-run. Wind-rated doors use stronger tracks, brackets, hinges, rollers, and struts to prevent damage. Each one is assigned a maximum wind load, to help you pick the right door for the job.

Develop Maintenance and Emergency Plans

Commercial and industrial sites that experience frequent storms need to have procedures in place to maintain and repair their doors and door hardware. Don’t wait for a disaster to strike. Schedule regular inspections throughout the year or sign up for proactive maintenance to ensure your equipment is up to code.

Make sure everyone knows how to react after the weather dies down. Your team will need to check the property for damage, identify potential hazards, and repair broken hardware in order to get your operation up and running again.

Importance of Storm Preparedness

A secure entryway is your best line of defense against hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. While purchasing strong doors provides a physical barrier against wind, rain, and debris, proactive maintenance is the only way to ensure they continue to perform over time. Regular inspections, service, and upgrades helps you address issues early, before the weather turns bad, in order to prevent minor problems from escalating and causing major damage. Storms can happen with little warning, so make sure you’re ready!

America’s Commercial Door Service Provider

Commercial doors can’t function without expert maintenance, especially in storm-prone areas. Vortex Doors helps you prepare and recover from harsh weather. Our certified technicians check critical components, identifying and rectifying potential weaknesses, to avoid costly repairs and lost revenue. Make sure your doors are strong enough for whatever nature throws at them. Contact us today and schedule a consultation with our storm prep team!