A door that slams, drags or will not latch interrupts trading and leaves an entrance that cannot be secured. We find out why — failed hydraulics, a worn arm, a dropped door on a tired pivot — then adjust, repair or replace the closer and prove the door through its full cycle before we leave.
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Commercial doors close in one of three ways. Each fails differently and each is a different repair, so if you can tell us which you have — or send a photo — we arrive with the right parts.
The visible box and arm at the top of timber, steel and fire doors in offices, schools, surgeries and back-of-house. Adjusted, re-fixed or replaced like-for-like.
ConcealedHidden in the frame above aluminium shopfront and office doors. Dorma, Axim and Adams Rite units replaced with new arm, channel and spindle plate.
Floor-mountedSet into the threshold under glass and heavy aluminium doors. Replaced with the top centre and cover plate, without disturbing the floor finish.
PivotsThe bearing the door swings on. When it wears the door drops, drags and overloads the closer — so we change pivot and closer together.
ShopfrontsHigh-cycle shop doors on the high street and in retail parks. Worked around trading hours, one leaf at a time on double doors.
PartsA worn arm bush, cracked slide channel or loose bracket is often repairable without a new closer if it is caught early.
Film the door closing on your phone and send it over. Thirty seconds of footage usually tells us which of these it is, and whether it is an adjustment, a part or a new closer.
No damping on the closing swing. If the closing-speed valve makes no difference, the oil is bypassing the seals and the closer has failed hydraulically.
The leaf drifts and never quite closes, so the lock cannot engage. Weak spring, worn arm, or a dropped door fighting the closer.
A streak of oil below the closer body means the seal has gone. The unit cannot be resealed on site — replacement only.
The door has dropped on a worn pivot or hinge and is loading the closer unevenly. Change the pivot and closer together or the new closer fails early.
Worn arm bush, cracked slide channel, stripped fixings or a loose spindle plate. Often repairable without a new closer.
The entrance has been abandoned for a side door. We treat these as priority call outs and aim to reopen the door the same day.
Closers are the most common single repair we do. These are recent ones, each with before-and-after photographs.
The single most common reason for a repeat closer failure is that nobody fixed what was loading it. A bottom pivot wears a couple of millimetres, the door drops, the latch stops meeting the keep cleanly, and someone winds the closer tighter to compensate. The door now slams home on every cycle, the hydraulic seals wear under the shock load, and the closer leaks within months. Fit another closer without changing the pivot and the cycle repeats.
The second is an under-rated closer on a door that has become busier than it was designed for, or one fitted to fight a prevailing wind that drives the door open all day. On any call out to a door with a history of repeats we check the fitted hardware against the door and quote the correctly rated part.
A six-monthly or annual service visit catches both. Closing and latching speeds are checked, arms and pivots lubricated, fixings re-tensioned and worn parts quoted before they take the closer with them. See our door closer maintenance contracts and the guide to why commercial door closers fail.
Shops, offices, surgeries, schools and industrial units across the UK. Office hours Mon–Sat 8am–10pm, with out-of-hours emergency call outs.
Sometimes. Most closers have closing-speed and latching-speed valves, and a door that closes too fast or stops short can occasionally be cured by resetting them. If adjusting the valves makes no difference, or the closer is leaking oil, the hydraulic seals have gone and the unit has to be replaced. We always try the adjustment first and tell you which it is.
Surface-mounted overhead closers, concealed transom closers hidden in the frame above aluminium shopfront doors, floor springs and bottom pivots under glass and aluminium doors, and the arms, channels, brackets and pivots that go with them. We also replace closers on fire doors with units that carry the correct fire-door rating.
A photo of the closer and the door, a short video of the door closing, and the site postcode. Thirty seconds of footage usually tells us whether it is a hydraulic failure, a worn arm or a dropped door on a worn pivot, and what parts to put on the van. Send it through the contact page and we quote the same day.
Same-day or next-day for most of England and Wales, and we prioritise doors that will not close or lock. Our office runs Monday to Saturday, 8am to 10pm, with out-of-hours emergency call outs available.
Dorma, Geze, Briton, Axim, Adams Rite, Rutland and universal-fit units. Where the old closer is still made we fit like-for-like; where it is obsolete we fit a modern equivalent on the existing fixings so the door and frame are not cut or re-drilled.
Yes. Six-monthly or annual visits to check closing and latching speeds, lubricate arms and pivots, re-tension and re-fix hardware before it fails. Most closer failures start as a door being wound tighter to compensate for a worn pivot, which a service visit catches early.
Send a photo and a short description of the fault and we’ll come back with a fixed-price quote the same day. Most diagnoses don’t need a site visit.
A 6-monthly or annual closers service contract catches the failing closer, the worn pivot and the dragging latch before they stop the door. Each visit checks closing and latching speeds, pivots and hinges, locks, seals and fixings, puts right what can be adjusted on the spot and quotes the rest as planned work rather than an emergency call out — with a written record of every door for your insurer and fire risk assessor.
Get in touch
Head Office:
Commercial Door Maintenance and Security Ltd
61 Bridge Street,
Kington,
HR5 3DJ
t: 0800 774 7998
e: info@cdms-ltd.co.uk
Office Hours
Mon - Sat: 8am - 10pm
Sun: Closed
