If you are a facility manager, do you sometimes feel as if you need to have eyes in the back of your head so that you can keep an eye out for vandals, corner-cutting employees or other mischief makers? You may have CCTV cameras dotted around your facility, but they can't capture every misdeed and from time to time you will have to dig into your corporate pocket to make some significant repairs. If you've recently noticed some damage to one of your main doors, you've now got to decide whether to repair it or replace. What do you need to bear in mind?

Keeping Costs in Check

It goes without saying, but a sizeable, strengthened facility door can be a costly replacement and you need to keep an eye on your budgets as much as possible. However, you also need to think about the amount of hours needed to repair it and whether one would outweigh the other in this particular case.

Different Scenarios

Have a close look at the damage to see if you can determine its extent. For example, has the very core of the door been compromised due to this incident? If something has crashed into it at some speed, then this may be the case and if so, it will need to be replaced.

Sometimes, however, the door may have been impacted in this way, but simply knocked out of line. If this has also affected the frame then it may be difficult to put everything back into place as it once was. If you try a stopgap repair, you may find that the door will falter when you're trying to open and close it, placing excessive stress on hinges. If it is an emergency door as well, it may not be 'up to code' anymore. It's probably time to replace this one.

Sometimes, corner-cutting staff will try and prevent an automatic door from closing because they need to get in and out a few times in succession without any hassle. If this is a regular occurrence, it will put a lot of stress on the hardware and especially the hinges and could even stretch the door itself. If this has been going on for some time, the door will probably need to be replaced.

If the door appears to be structurally sound but has taken a hefty knock from some unnamed object, then you can opt for commercial door repair and bring it back to its original condition. Obviously, if the dent has penetrated all the way through to the other side of the door, a repair may not be possible, but you should defer to the experts in this case.

Where Do You Go Next?

Begin by taking photos of the damage and sending these into repair specialists. They will then be able to advise you of your next course of action.