A lot of people ask us at what point should they replace a door? Long story short when it comes to rusty metal doors there’s no question. A lot of times when it comes to a commercial setting doors are really an afterthought. At that point there’s really no choice but to replace them.
A good way to find out if a door needs to be replaced would be the shake test. Grab the door at the top with the door open and give it a good shake if the bottom doesn’t move at the same speed as the top, the door has to be replaced. When the top of a door and the bottom of a door can be bent in opposite directions a crowbar can easily be used to gain entry.
Another way that doors fail are hinge pockets. They will either rust out or they will become unwelded from the door or the frame. Most of the time you won’t have to have your frame replaced which can be the most expensive part of any installation. Most of the time when rusty metal doors fail they fail in a way that you just simply have to replace the door only. Even if your hinge pockets should fail we can always install a full surface continuous hinge to fix the problem. Door frames are expensive to replace because a lot of the time they’re filled with concrete.
How to protect metal doors from rust
Most door problems are very easy to prevent. Doors are only primered directly from the factory. That primer is supposed to be painted over with oil-based. If you paint your doors on a regular basis and lubricate hinges and lock hardware every two years your doors will really is that simple. Don’t want to do this? You can always schedule one of our technicians to come out and service all of your doors once a year. Otherwise just make sure that you paint your doors on a regular basis with an oil-based paint. Something that will protects them in the weather.