This guide covers everything you need to know about commercial rollup steel doors, including how they work, the types of rollup doors available, and how they compare to their sectional counterparts. 

What Is a Rollup Door?

Rollup doors are steel doors that roll up into a coil directly above the opening. As they protect against unwanted entry and natural elements, they are indispensable for many businesses. Other benefits of these doors include:

• They free up space: Rollup doors are perfect in situations where there is either not enough room for overhead doors or the rails cannot be accommodated, such is the case in a wide-open warehouse. 
• They provide heightened security: The steel slats in rollup doors are more secure than their sectional counterparts, and they provide more fire resistance.
• They're more durable: Rollup doors resist harsh elements as well as regular wear and tear better than traditional garage doors, which also means they last longer. 

How Do Rollup Doors Work?

A rolling door consists of small, interlocking horizontal slats that, when lifted, travel along a track and coil around a drum directly overhead. They can roll into a coil due to their great flexibility, which is due to the thinness of the slats. The slats on rolling steel or aluminum doors are much thinner than those of traditional overhead doors.

Types of Commercial Rollup Doors

We offer a wide variety of rollup door types that vary in terms of purpose and performance, which include: 

Security Doors 

If you're looking to install a rollup door with fast operation and top performance, you'll want to consider investing in our high-performance security doors, which boast exceptionally low overall lifetime costs. Browse some of our secure rollup doors below:

1. Rolling Security 

If you need a rollup door that's high-security and provides superior protection, you'll want to invest in one of Cookson's rolling security doors. These doors defend your building against burglary, unwanted entry, and destructive vandalism as well as inclement weather. 

This superior custom-made door is designed to withstand daily use and is warrantied for as many as 50,000 open-and-close cycles, which is over twice that offered by many competing brands. These doors are supported fully by side guides to free up as much overhead space as possible with motor operation, push-up, and hand-crank options available. 

One of the greatest benefits of these doors is their ability for customization. We manufacture each of our rollup doors to meet our customers' specific requirements, which results in a door that is well suited for your specific application. Many parts of our doors are customizable, including: 

• Materials: Your door can be made from galvanized steel, stainless steel, or aluminum. 
• Slats: You can adjust your visibility and ventilation with custom slats.
• Finish: You can create a distinctive appearance by customizing the finish. Options include black anodized, dark or medium bronze anodized, clear anodized, or mill finish. 
• Graphics: Use your rollup door as an opportunity to display your brand logo, business sponsors, or anything you desire using full-color, durable vinyl graphics. 
• Windows: If you'd like to increase visibility and let some light in, you can opt for windows.
• Safety features: You can further enhance the security of your rollup door with locks, weather seals, wind load protection, and other features. 

View Our Max Protection Doors

2. High-Performance

If you have a high-traffic entrance to your business, you're going to be opening and closing your commercial door frequently, which means you'll want a door that can open and close quickly. Our Extreme® 300 Series High-Performance Door is ideal for this situation. This rollup door comes with several beneficial features, including:

• Springless design: Their springless design will boost productivity and minimize downtime, as springs usually cause failure of a rollup door. A springless door design means the door will open and close flawlessly every time, so you won't have to worry about a failure disrupting your business.
• Long lifespan: Our 300 series can run for 300,000 cycles maintenance-free, making it the highest-quality industrial garage door on the market. These 300,000 open-and-close cycles are sure to boost productivity when installed in an important opening.
• Smooth operation: The door's variable frequency drive features smooth operation, ensuring a soft stop and start. This will significantly reduce the wear and tear on the door and its components.
• Fast operation: The 300 Series can open at speeds as fast as 24 inches per second. The installation of a quick door boosts productivity with an uninterrupted workflow and can also improve energy efficiency.

View Our High Performance Doors

3. Extreme Long-Lasting 

Our Extreme 1024 High-Performance Door offers high performance, intelligent operations and an extremely long lifespan. With the 1024 Series, you can be certain your door will serve you for many years, as it has been tested to open and close over 1 million times without any maintenance. In addition to its longevity, this door also offers the following advantages: 

• Speed: The 1024 Series is fast, helping to improve productivity. 
• Energy efficiency: This door is also energy-efficient and will seal your building quickly, thereby minimizing loss of temperature and achieving the most energy savings possible. 
• Cutting-edge seal system: Our patented door perimeter seal system serves to prevent infiltration of air. 

4. Safe Room

Our award-winning StormDefender shutters can transform any area into an extremely safe storm shelter in the event of a natural disaster. Some benefits of these rollup storm shutters include: 

• Convenience: These shutters remain hidden until you need them in an extreme weather situation.
• Reliability: Our StormDefender shutters will work even if there's a power outage.
• Customization: We manufacture our storm shutters to meet our customers' requirements and therefore offer various customization options to ensure you can have an attractive door that perfectly matches your building's look.
• Protection against severe weather: If a hurricane or tornado is approaching your building, these shutters close and provide superior protection against strong winds and debris. The StormDefender shutters have been tested and proven to withstand extreme weather phenomena and meet standards from the International Code Council (ICC) governing storm shelter construction. These shutters also meet standards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) governing safe rooms.

These tough shutters are perfect for any facility that requires reliable protection from Mother Nature's most powerful disasters. Whether you're required to install these by law or are doing so as a proactive measure, these shutters can fit seamlessly into practically any public facility, including schools, universities, 911 facilities, and municipal buildings.

These shutters have been proven to stand up to positive and negative wind pressures of 300 pounds per square foot (PSF). They can also withstand a direct impact from a flying object without suffering much damage.

View Our StormDefender Products

5. High-Security

Our EntryDefender® Door is a platinum award-winning door designed to protect manufacturing facilities, official government buildings, marijuana dispensaries and other sensitive buildings against intrusions. These doors offer many benefits, including:

• Customization: Our EntryDefender door is the country's only rollup door that allows professionals to customize its design in wide doorways while still complying with regulations without compromising safety.
• Design that minimizes potential pry points: Despite looking like a normal rollup door, this door has interlocking slats that contract when closed, creating an even surface and diminishing possible pry points. If someone tries to break in, these interlocking slats will move closer together, further minimizing pry points and making this rolling door even stronger.
• Hidden locking system: This cutting-edge door also features a hidden locking system and enhanced bottom bar, which helps to keep the door closed.

View Our EntryDefender Doors

6. Riot Protection 

Our StoreDefender™ Door provides businesses with protection against bodily force and common tool attacks from three or more attackers. It features continuous cast wind locks, allowing it to stay securely in the guides. The slide locks secure the heavy-duty bottom bar in place and the slats lock into the barrel.

View Our StoreDefender Doors

Energy-Efficient Doors

Our insulated doors are among our most popular models, and it's not hard to understand why — they protect against harsh natural elements, stop intrusions, and improve the building's energy efficiency. These doors' thick, dual-layer insulation also reduces sound, making them great for any application. 

Our energy-efficient rollup door models include:

1. Insulated Rollup Door

Our Thermiser® Insulated Rolling Doors feature foamed-in-place insulation that provides superior energy efficiency and two layers of formed steel. This combination makes them one of the most secure rollup door models on the market.

However, even if a door has excellent insulation, it doesn't necessarily provide good energy efficiency. This is because warm or cold air can sometimes make its way around a door, even if the insulation is excellent. For this reason, we've equipped our Thermiser® insulated doors with a perimeter sealing system, which provides thorough protection against the natural elements.

Like all our other door models, we custom manufacture our insulated doors to your specifications and offer various materials and finishes.

2. High-Energy Efficient Rollup Door

The Thermiser Max® Insulated Rolling Door offers better insulation than any other rollup door on the market, with ASHRAE, IECC and LEED certifications to prove it. The Thermiser Max® decreases infiltration of air by 94% compared to standard products and can help you obtain as many as 38 points in many LEED certifications credit categories.

View Our Insulated Doors

Fire-Rated Rollup Service Doors

A rolling fire-rated door is a structural fire barrier designed to impede the spread of flames and smoke by keeping them isolated to a certain compartment of a building. Rollup steel fire doors have become a standard safety requirement in many buildings.

Our selection of fire-rated rolling doors include:

1. Insulated Rolling Fire Door

The Firemiser insulated rollup door provides all the life-safety features of rollup fire doors along with the sound reduction and energy efficiency benefits of insulated rollup doors.

In a fire, the Firemiser will close, preventing flames and smoke from entering and spreading through the rest of the building. By isolating the fire and smoke, this door protects both lives and property.

Firemister rollup doors can be installed on the following wall types:

• Masonry
• Dry construction with wood studs or structural steel
• Structural steel jambs

Firemiser insulated fire doors are ideal for applications outside of a structure that may be expanded later on or areas that require fire doors and need the sound-dampening benefits of insulated doors.

2. Rollup Fire Door

Our rolling fire doors are designed to protect lives and property in a fire by isolating the incident to a certain part of a building. Besides stopping the spread of fire, these doors also provide excellent security and access control for openings in walls that aren't a required means of egress.

Our fire-rated rollup doors come with the option of a SmokeShield® package, which adds draft and smoke control listed to UL1784. This assures the smoke is compartmentalized with the fire and doesn't spread throughout the building. Our rollup fire doors are listed for fire protection ratings of 45 minutes, 90 minutes, 3 hours, and 4 hours.

View Our Fire Rated Doors

Steel Rollup Doors vs. Sectional Garage Doors

Rollup and overhead doors have much in common — they're both available in steel and they both protect against human-made and natural threats. So you may be asking yourself, which is more suitable for your business? In this section, we'll compare the benefits of each:

• Sectional doors insulate better: Sectional doors are better in terms of insulation and heating properties, so if your business requires strict temperature control, you may want to opt for a sectional door over a rollup model.
• Rollup doors are more secure: Rollup doors have the advantage when it comes to security because interlocking metal slats are stronger.
• Rollup doors require less maintenance: Rolling doors are available in spring and springless options. Springless rolling doors may not require as much maintenance as doors with springs, or sectional doors, which have several other components that may require maintenance and lubrication to function properly.
• Rollup doors are less dangerous: Wear and tear on sectional doors may cause a cable or spring to fail, causing the door to slam shut, which can put employees at risk. With rollup doors, you don't have to worry about this.

How Much Does It Cost to Install a Rollup Door?

The price to install your rollup door will depend on several factors, including the size, material type, and brand. Additional features may also increase the installation price.

Depending on the above factors, installing a normal rollup door could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000. This is because the installation is more complicated and time-consuming than standard sectional garage doors. Special tools may also be necessary.

Contact Cookson Door for Rolling Door Solutions

At Cookson Door, we're dedicated to providing customers with the highest quality products and services. No matter what you need, our support team will help you find, design, or specify the best door for your application. Reach out to us today to receive a quote.

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