What counts as a “commercial door”
A commercial door is any door installed in a business premises that has to meet a higher duty cycle, security spec or compliance standard than a domestic door. That covers a wide range — from a coffee shop’s aluminium-and-glass entrance, through an office building’s automatic sliders, to a warehouse’s roller shutter and a hospital’s fire door. Each behaves differently, fails differently, and is repaired differently.
This guide walks through the six main types, the symptoms that indicate each, and the typical professional repair.
Aluminium shopfront doors
The aluminium-framed half-glazed door is the most common UK commercial entrance. Found on every high street, in every shopping centre, on most office reception entrances. Strong frame, light enough to swing easily, glazed for visibility.
Common faults: dropped door (worn bottom pivot or top centre), slow or slamming close (worn or leaking transom closer), door will not latch (closer adjustment, hookbolt or strike issue), drag against the threshold (settled frame or worn pivot).
Typical repairs are component-level — swap the pivot, swap the closer, adjust the latch. A site visit is rarely needed to quote; a photo of the door at rest plus a 10-second video of it closing is usually enough.
Automatic doors (sliding and swinging)
Sliding automatic doors handle the highest opening counts of any commercial door — supermarket entrances, hospital main doors, hotel lobbies. Swinging automatic doors are common on accessible entrances and where wall space is tight.
Common faults: door fails to open at all (controller fault, power-supply issue, safety beam misalignment), door opens but does not close (sensor seeing constant traffic, threshold debris), door operates slowly or shudders (drive belt stretched, top track contaminated), safety system trips repeatedly (mis-aligned beam, dirty sensor lens).
These need an engineer with controller experience. Most callouts are resolved without parts — sensor realignment, belt tensioning, controller reset. Where parts are needed, common items (drive belts, sensors, control boards) are usually stocked.
Roller shutters
Roller shutters protect retail shopfronts after hours, secure warehouse goods-in bays, and screen industrial doors. They sit somewhere between hardware and machine — spring-balanced or motorised, with a controller for electric units.
Common faults: shutter will not raise (motor failed, controller blocked, power-supply issue, broken spring), shutter raises partially then stops (overload trip, jammed slat, end-of-travel limit), shutter falls fast or with a bang (broken spring or counter-balance), slat damage from vehicle impact.
Repair is usually in situ — motor replacement, spring re-tensioning, slat panel replacement. Full shutter replacement is rare unless the curtain is severely damaged.
Fire doors
Fire doors are commercial doors held to a specific certification — usually FD30 or FD60 (30 or 60 minutes’ fire resistance). The door, frame, hardware, intumescent strips and smoke seals all form part of the certified set. Modifications can invalidate the rating.
Common faults: intumescent strip missing or damaged, smoke seal worn, door does not self-close fully against the stop, gap between door and frame exceeds tolerance, missing fire-rated signage. These are the five items that fail almost every fire door inspection.
Repairs must preserve certification. Replacement strips and seals are like-for-like to the original. A repair record is kept on file for insurance and regulator review.
Steel security and industrial doors
Steel doors cover security entrances (cash offices, plant rooms, electrical rooms), industrial-grade access doors, and graded LPS 1175 or Secured by Design units. Heavier than aluminium and built for impact and forced-entry resistance.
Common faults: hinges have sagged under the door’s weight, multi-point lock will not engage all bolts, mortice lock body wear, door has shifted relative to a corroded steel frame, anti-pick mechanism faults.
Steel doors weigh enough that the hardware does most of the failing. Hinge replacement, lock body swap and frame strap repair are the common jobs.
Specialist door types
APG (all-purpose glass) doors are common in shopping centres — full glass entrances with concealed hardware. Sectional overhead doors are typical on industrial loading bays. Fast-action doors are fitted to logistics premises for high-frequency openings. Each has its own service pattern, but the common thread is that hardware fails before the door does.
For all door types, the most useful diagnostic is a clear photograph showing the door, the frame and the closing hardware, plus a description of the symptom. From that an engineer can usually quote remotely and dispatch with the right parts.
What a professional repair includes
A professional commercial door repair includes: written same-day quote based on remote diagnosis, engineer arrival within the agreed window, in-situ repair where possible (most jobs), parts on the van for common faults, post-repair adjustment of closer speed and latch action, written job report with photos, and a workmanship guarantee.
Any reputable commercial door engineer will offer all of the above as standard. Where any of these are missing, ask why before commissioning the work.