Before a customer walks into your establishment, the first thing that greets them is the front door. A strong first impression is essential for any business – this comes down to the minute details, like how smooth it is to open the entrance door. Because commercial doors are opened and shut all day long, they face wear and tear over time.
One of the most common and effective door repairs is to fix broken door closers. Cypress Door and Glass LLC offers both commercial and residential door closer repair services.
How Do Door Closers Work?
A commercial door is basically a spring in a box. As you open the door, the spring in the closer will begin to compress and store energy required to close the door when you let go. The closer body on commercial doors is full of hydraulic oil that dampens the closing speed and prevents the door from slamming shut.
There are many parts to the inner workings of a closer, but they usually can’t be adjusted, repaired or rebuilt. Replacing malfunctioning ones is often the easiest solution.
The Most Common Types Of Closers
Closers come in three basic categories: surface mounted door closers, overhead concealed door closers, and floor closers. Surface mounted door closers are the most commonly used today.
Surface Mounted Closers
This type of closer has an arm at the top of the door connecting the closer body to the door. The Norton 1601 has become the standard for surface mounted closers on storefront doors, but there are tons of brands to choose from like Dorma, CRL, Global, and LCN. Steel and storefront doors that have a parallel arm installation will typically use an LCN door closer.
Overhead Concealed Closers
An overhead concealed closer, or OHC, is hidden inside the framing above the door. Center-hung or offset doors use a J-Arm to connect the door to the closer body. In either case, the closer is concealed when the door is shut, which offers cleaner lines and a less cluttered looking storefront or glass door.
The most common manufacturers of OHC closers are Jackson and Dorma. These closers are available in 90 or 105 degrees and have hold-open or non-hold-open features. Both latch and sweep adjustments are available with these types of closers.
Floor Closers
Floor closers are essentially overhead concealed closers but mounted in the floor rather than at the top of the door. Just like the OHC, the floor closer is typically used on center-hung glass or aluminum doors.
The most common floor closer is the BTS80 manufactured by Dorma, but other quality floor closers can be found from brands such as Rixon and Jackson.
Adjusting Closing Speeds
All closers have three basic adjustments: sweep speed, latch speed, and backcheck. The sweep speed controls the speed for most of the door swing until it reaches 10 degrees from closing. The speed at which the door closes during the last 10 degrees is controlled by the latch.
An additional adjustment available on high-quality closers is the closing force. The closing force needs to be powerful enough to account for wind, stack pressure, and an un-aligned door that may be rubbing on the threshold.
Our technicians at Cypress Door and Glass LLC focus on adjusting the door closer speed with enough force to latch the door closed without it slamming. On top of safety reasons, this prevents door parts, such as hinges and locks, from wearing out.
Repairing Your Door Closer
If you notice the wind blowing the door open, or your door slamming, you’re not alone – these are the two most common door repair calls. In both cases, hydraulic fluid is leaking out of a faulty seal on the door closer. As fluid leaks out, the opening pressure gets weaker and there’s nothing to cushion the door closer spring, which will cause the door to slam.
Contact Cypress Door & Glass
The fix? A replacement! Cypress Door and Glass LLC stocks common door closers in production today in our service repair glass trucks. Our team of experts are known to swap broken door closers in no time, and will be there to help you every step of the way!
Reach out to Cypress Door & Glass LLC today for more information on repairing your door closer.