3 Ways Our Architectural Doors Can Meet Your Minimum Safety Ratings
If you’re renovating your commercial buildings, you don’t just need a good steel door. You need an architectural door that meets your industry’s regulatory standards.
What is an architectural door?
This is a catch-all term commercial and industrial doors. As a general rule, commercial doors need to meet higher standards than residential doors do. These standards can range from fire safety ratings to even resistance to chemical corrosion.
OSHA and other regulatory agencies often design the minimum standards each category of business needs to have in place. Talk to your onsite auditor or facilities manager about the specific codes your building needs to follow, especially if you’re trying to offer space to commercial tenants with specialized businesses.
3 of the Features Typically Under Strict Specifications:
While every industry has unique requirements, most regulations include a focus on these three features. When you’re looking for a new door for your building, look for:
Fire safety:
Fire safety requirements come in many forms. Your doors will need to be able to offer a minimum window of time in which occupants can safely get outside. Strong steel frames are a good foundation for meeting this requirement. Large glass panels can also increase visibility and on-site safety.
Protection from corrosion and physical impact:
Look for metal doors that have a protective finish. Moisture can quickly corrode unprotected metal, which makes it sharp to the touch and structurally unsafe. So look for options that have a durable paint or powder coated finish. These finishes lock moisture out and need to be rated against scratches and impact damage.
Insulation quality:
If you want your building to rank as a green or environmentally conscious building, you can receive a lot of tax benefits and grants to complete the project. But one of the main categories under any program will be energy-efficiency. Look for thermally-broken steel doors that don’t let heat escape straight through the frames and glass.
Once you know the exact specifications your business needs to meet, contact us at Metro Steel Doors & Windows. We can help you find exactly what you’re looking for.