Guides & FAQ · Security shutters & grilles
Types of Rolling Shutters, Grilles & Security Gates: Questions Answered
There are three types of commercial security closure. A rolling shutter is a curtain of interlocking slats, solid or perforated, that coils above the opening. A rolling grille coils the same way but is built from links or rods you can see through. A folding gate slides sideways and stacks against the jamb. Headroom and visibility usually decide which one an opening gets. Below are the questions store owners, property managers and contractors ask us most, answered briefly.
Every answer below comes from the same place as the rest of our shutter pages: the closures we measure, install and repair on storefronts, mall units, counters and warehouses across Toronto and the GTA. Where an answer needs more room, it links to the product page that covers it in full.
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Types of rolling shutters, grilles and gates
Every commercial security closure is one of a few designs. Knowing which is which makes every other question easier.
What are the different types of rolling shutters?
Commercial rolling shutters are usually sorted three ways. By curtain: solid slats, perforated slats or an open grille. By use: storefront and entrance shutters, counter shutters over a servery or service window, and window shutters. And by drive: a chain hoist, a crank, or a tube motor. Material is the fourth choice, usually galvanized steel, aluminum or stainless. A shutter is one choice from each list, made to the measured opening.
What is a roller shutter?
A curtain of interlocking horizontal slats that runs in a guide on each side of an opening and rolls up onto a barrel above it. Closed, it covers the opening completely; open, it sits out of sight in a coil or a hood above the head. "Roller shutter", "rolling shutter", "roll-down shutter" and "roll-up shutter" all mean the same product.
What is a security grille?
A closure made of links, rods or a lattice with open space between them, so it secures an opening without hiding what is behind it. It either rolls up above the opening like a shutter, or folds sideways and stacks against the jamb. Grilles are the usual choice inside shopping malls, where the display has to stay visible after hours.
What is a security gate called?
The side-folding kind has several names: folding gate, scissor gate, accordion gate, expandable gate or collapsible gate. They all describe the same thing, leaves pinned together so the gate concertinas against one jamb. It is the answer when there is no headroom above the opening for a coil.
What is a counter shutter?
A rolling shutter scaled for a counter or service window rather than a doorway: a cafeteria servery, a bar, a pharmacy dispensary or a parts counter. It coils above the opening like a full-height shutter, but it lands on the countertop, so the counter and the wall above it both have to be built to take it.
What is the difference between a coiling door and a security shutter?
Mostly the job. A rolling steel (coiling) door closes a building opening, such as a loading bay or warehouse entrance, and is built for vehicles, wind and daily cycling. A security shutter closes something off for security, usually a shopfront, window or counter. They share the same slat-and-barrel design, which is why the names overlap.
What is the best material for a roller shutter?
Galvanized steel is the default for strength on street-facing and industrial openings. Aluminum is lighter and does not rust, so it suits counters, interior mall units and openings that are cycled by hand. Stainless is chosen for kitchens, food service and anywhere hygiene or appearance matters most. Any of them can be powder-coated to a colour.
Is it grilles or grills?
Both spellings are used, but "grille" is the standard spelling for a security closure or a screen of bars. "Grill" usually means a cooking grill. Manufacturers and specifications almost always write security grille.
Shutter, grille or gate for your opening
The opening usually makes the choice: how much headroom there is, whether anyone needs to see in, and whether people exit through it.
Security grille or roller shutter for a storefront?
It depends mostly on where the store is. Inside a mall, a grille is the usual answer: the landlord often requires one, and it keeps the display visible. On a street, a solid shutter hides the stock, keeps weather off the glass and turns a smash-and-grab into a noisy job that needs tools. A perforated shutter is the middle ground for a street where a blank shutter would look derelict at night.
Should the security grille be on the inside or outside of the door?
Inside, whenever the opening allows it. An interior closure is out of the weather and out of reach of graffiti, does not change how the shopfront looks during the day, and rarely needs landlord or heritage approval. Mount it outside when there is no interior room for the coil or the stack, or when the glass itself keeps getting broken and needs protecting, not just what is behind it.
What if there is no headroom above the opening?
Then a rolling closure is off the table, because its barrel needs somewhere to sit. Fit-outs often fill that space with ductwork or a bulkhead. The answer is a folding gate or grille, which stacks sideways against a jamb and needs no headroom at all. Allow for the stack itself: it takes wall space beside the opening, and more on a wide one.
Can a security gate go across an exit door?
Only with great care, and sometimes not at all. An exit door must open from inside without a key, a tool or special knowledge, and a padlocked gate across it breaks that rule. Gates normally go on non-exit openings, or are only locked once the building is empty. We settle it at the site visit, before anything is made.
Can you put a door in a roller shutter?
Not in the curtain itself. A rolling curtain has to coil around its barrel, so it cannot carry a hinged pass door the way a sectional door can. Where people need to come and go while the shutter is down, the usual arrangement is a separate personnel door beside it, with the exit hardware the code requires.
How much security they actually give
Every product here has "security" in the name. None of them makes a business burglar-proof, and it is worth knowing what they do instead.
Are roller shutters secure?
They are a strong visible barrier, not an impenetrable one. A solid shutter, locked into its guides, stops casual attacks and makes a determined one slow and noisy. That delay is the real value: it buys time for an alarm to trigger and a response to arrive. With enough time and the right tools, any closure can be defeated.
Do security shutters deter burglars?
Yes, mainly because they are obvious. A shuttered or gated shopfront tells an opportunist this will not be a ten-second job, and most move on to an easier target. Deterrence works best as one layer: cameras covering the opening, an alarm with contacts and glass-break sensors, and monitoring that sends someone out.
Can thieves break roller shutters?
Yes, given the time and the tools. The usual weak points are the bottom bar and its lock, a curtain that can be lifted out of a shallow guide, and a padlock that can be cut. Deep guides, a lock that engages the guides or the floor, and a slat gauge suited to the opening's width all make an attack slower. None of it replaces an alarm.
What are the disadvantages of roller shutters?
A closed solid shutter makes a shop look shut and can look derelict along a street. It needs headroom for the barrel, and it has to be custom-made, so it is not inexpensive. It is mechanical, so the guides and bottom bar need servicing, especially after a winter of road salt. And a shutter across an exit route limits how that opening can be locked.
What are the alternatives to security shutters?
A grille, if the display has to stay visible. A folding gate, if there is no headroom. Laminated glass in place of the existing glass, which stays in the frame when broken. Or security film on the glass already there, which holds broken glass together if it is properly anchored to the frame. Each one only delays entry, so the choice depends on the opening.
Are roller shutters good for insulation?
Only an insulated one, and only somewhat. Commercial shutters can be made with foam-filled slats for openings in the building envelope, where heat loss matters. An ordinary solid shutter keeps rain and wind off the glass but is not insulation. A perforated shutter or a grille does neither.
Motors, locks and daily use
How a closure is opened and locked every day matters more to how long it lasts than what it is made of.
How do roller shutters work?
The slats run in a guide on each side of the opening and wind onto a barrel above it. On most commercial shutters a spring in the barrel counterbalances the weight of the curtain, so lifting it by hand, by chain or with a motor takes far less effort than its weight would suggest. At the bottom, a bottom bar seats the curtain and usually carries the lock.
Should a security shutter be manual or motorized?
It depends on how often it cycles and who operates it. A shutter opened once a day by the same person can stay on a chain hoist or crank for years. A wide or heavy shutter, one opened several times a day, or one run by whoever is on shift should be motorized. Most damage comes from forcing a manual shutter. A motor adds a key switch, remote or timer.
What happens to a motorized shutter in a power failure?
It should still open by hand. A commercial shutter motor comes with a manual override, usually a chain or crank, and on an opening people leave through it is not optional. Staff should know where it is and how it works before an outage, not during one.
How do you lock a roller shutter?
Most commercial shutters lock at the bottom bar: slide bolts that throw into the guides, a centre lock into the floor, or a cylinder that can be keyed to the building's system so staff carry one key. A padlock through the bottom bar is the simplest option and the easiest to cut.
Problems, repair and service
The curtain rarely wears out first. The guides and the bottom bar take the damage.
What are the most common roller shutter problems?
Slats that come out of the guides, usually because the shutter was forced while it was still locked or the bottom bar caught on something. After that come motors and limit switches on powered units, springs and barrels on manual ones, and impact damage from a vehicle or pallet truck. In winter, grit and road salt in the guides make a shutter suddenly hard to move.
Why is my security gate not closing?
On a folding gate, it is usually a bent link or leaf from being forced while locked, a carrier that has jumped the top track, or debris in the floor track. On a rolling closure, look at the guides and the bottom bar first, then the motor's limits. Stop using a closure that binds. Forcing it turns an adjustment into a repair.
Can a rolling shutter be repaired, or does it need replacing?
Most can be repaired in place. Slats, links and leaves replace individually, so one damaged section does not condemn the curtain. Guides, bottom bars, locks, springs and motors are all replaceable. When a curtain is genuinely beyond economical repair, a new one can often go into the existing guides and structure, which costs much less than starting over.
Can you service a shutter another company installed?
Yes. Most of the closures we look after were installed by someone else. Shutter and grille parts can usually be matched to what is already there, so an old closure with no maker's name is usually still repairable.
Can I install a security shutter myself?
On a commercial opening, it is not a good idea. The barrel has to be anchored to structure strong enough to carry it, the spring is under tension, and a shutter on an exit route has to meet the code for how it locks. Mistakes show up as a curtain that jams, a spring that fails, or a closure the fire inspector orders removed.
How often should a security shutter be serviced?
Once a year for most commercial closures, and before winter for exterior ones. A service cleans the guides, checks the curtain and bottom bar, adjusts the lock and resets the motor limits. It costs far less than the emergency call it prevents.
Fire shutters, cost and lead times
No price list is possible for made-to-measure closures, but the things that set the price are the same on every job.
What is the difference between a fire shutter and a roller shutter?
The job and the certification. A security shutter is closed by staff to secure an opening. A fire shutter is a labelled, tested assembly that stays open and closes on its own when fire is detected, to keep a fire separation intact. A security shutter in a rated opening does not satisfy the code. Fire shutters need an annual drop test.
How much do security shutters cost?
Each one is priced for its opening. What sets the price is the size of the opening, the curtain (solid, perforated or grille), the material and finish, manual or motorized operation, insulation, interior or exterior mounting, the locking, and whether the structure above can carry the barrel. Send us the width, height and a photo of what is above the opening for a quote.
Why are roller shutters so expensive?
Because each one is made for its opening, not taken off a shelf. The curtain, guides, barrel and spring are sized to that opening's width, height and weight. The barrel has to be anchored to structure that can carry it. Motors, controls and a lock keyed to your building add to it. What you pay for is a closure that runs daily for years.
How long does it take to get a security shutter?
Typically 4–6 weeks to produce once the opening is measured and the finish is confirmed, then 1–2 weeks to schedule and install. Installation is usually a day per opening, often outside trading hours. Repairs are much faster: common slats, guides, motors and locks are stocked, and most faults are fixed in one visit.
In-depth guides
How to Prevent Break-Ins at a Commercial Property
Where intruders actually get in, what grilles, shutters, bars, locks and glass each buy you, and the order to fix a building's weak points in.
Get a storefront or counter secured
An opening to secure, or a shutter that will not close?
Send us the width and height of the opening and a photo of what is above it. We will tell you whether it takes a shutter, a grille or a gate, and what it costs.