What should be considered when choosing a door for PVC hall?

The final price of the square meter of PVC hall is largely determined by the doors (the type, location and dimensions). It is necessary to think carefully about which door to choose for PVC hall, what purpose the door/doors will serve and where to place it. Besides, considering the PVC hall dimensions, it is also necessary to consider how many escape routes or escape doors are required. In Estonia, an escape route is required every 30 meters, if there is an ATS, this requirement is every 45 meters. The pedestrian doors can be selected separately, but also inside overhead doors. Depending on what is stored there, it is sometimes more convenient to use an overhead door with a pedestrian door inside. This provides an escape route but does not take up storage space. For example, in the case of curtains, walkways are not required by the Rescue Board.

There are several types of doors available for PVC hall:

• the easiest and cheapest are curtain doors,
• in the middle price range are sliding doors with PVC fabric,
• the best quality and price relationship are overhead doors,
• the most expensive and fastest are PVC high-speed rollup doors.

FinEst-Hall’s partner for overhead and PVC rollup doors is Laduks OÜ, a company with a 10-year history that focuses on the sale, installation and subsequent aftercare of industrial doors. Laduks OÜ has long-term experience in the field and generally finds a solution even in the most challenging situations – be it 9000 mm wide or 9000 mm high door openings, quick-opening solutions, or other individual wishes of the customer. As door specialists, Laduks OÜ has a maintenance and repair network covering whole Estonia, which ensures a quick response to all occurring problems.

Key factors to consider:

1. What material/goods will be stored in the PVC hall? The dimensions of the goods and forklifts must be taken into account. For example, a package of wood or metal that is 6 meters wide, generally requires a 7-meter wide door. Heavy equipment with large dimensions sometimes requires doors with the measurements of 6 × 6 meters (LxH).
2. Does the truck have to fit in the PVC hall or not? In the case of a truck, the minimum dimensions are 4 × 4.3 meters (LxH).  If the truck can be reversed directly, a door measuring 3.5×4.3 meters (LxH) will suffice.
3. Is the side of the PVC hall door/doors open to the wind? If the wind is keen on the side of the doors, it is recommended to use overhead doors that are stable and comfortable to use. For example, in the case of curtain doors, there is a high risk that constant winds may break the door fastenings. In the case of curtain doors, the wind can enter the PVC hall and this can create a balloon effect, which means that the PVC fastening straps and tensioners are constantly overloaded.
4. Be sure to consider the doors’ location, whether the doors are on the PVC hall end or the side. There are no restrictions regarding the end door. In the case of doors on the side, the truss step must be taken into account, if the door fits between the trusses, it is a standard solution, and it does not involve any additional costs for the customer. However, if the side door is larger than the truss step, it must be taken into account that the door is surrounded by reinforcement frames on which the truss above the door rests. Such a solution is much more complicated and significantly more expensive for the customer. In the case of a side door, it must be taken into account that snow falls from the roof to the door in winter. To prevent this, it is advisable to use awnings above the side doors, which divide the snow in two directions and keep the front of the door free of snow.
5.  In the case of sliding doors, it must be taken into account that in the case of a wide opening, the doors open in two directions. Sliding doors are opened manually. Sliding doors are installed out of the PVC hall when located on the side, located at the end of the hall, doors are installed inward. In the case of an end door, account must be taken of the fact that it is not possible to store the goods in the area where the doors open. The disadvantage of a sliding door is that it is not airtight and precipitation at a certain angle can enter the PVC hall.
6. The best and safest door solution for PVC hall is an overhead door. The overhead door is dense and does not let through rain and wind. The overhead door can be fitted with automation, various sensors for automatic opening and, if necessary, an escape route. Besides, they are more convenient to open and use.
   Toomas Raag, sales manager of Laduks OÜ: “Overhead doors are the most common industrial opening filler. As standard, overhead doors up to 8×6 m (LxH) can be produced, but as a special solution, we have also installed overhead doors up to 9 m wide and 9 m high. If desired, the overhead door can be set to open according to the slope of the PVC hall roof. High-duty lifts can be fitted with springs up to 100,000 cycles (20,000 cycles as standard) with the advantage of low costs, easy and low availability of spare parts. The overhead door is not suitable for places where there is very heavy use, or it is not ideal for the door to open under the ceiling. “
7. PVC roller doors are necessary, for example, if PVC hall is connected to a warm production. In this case, in winter it is impossible for warm air to enter the cold PVC hall and create excessive condensation there. PVC rollup doors are known for their excellent opening speed and convenience to use when there is a need to move between production and the warehouse continually. The disadvantages are their high price and tighter maintenance interval.
   Toomas Raag, sales manager of Laduks OÜ: “PVC high-speed rollup doors are used in places where there is a very frequent use, fast opening-closing is desired, or the door mustn’t move into the room. There are no restrictions on PVC high-speed roller use density; it is possible to add windows of different shapes, if desired, the company logo/image on the door curtain, opening devices, etc. “

Examples of curtain doors:

Examples of sliding doors:

Examples of overhead doors:

Examples of rollup doors: