Automatic Doors in Oakville

Not as a blanket rule. The requirement comes from the Ontario Building Code's barrier-free provisions, which apply when you build or renovate, and from the AODA's Design of Public Spaces standard, which covers certain new and redeveloped exterior paths and entrances. Existing buildings are not ordered to retrofit every door. In practice most of our operator work is triggered by a permit, a renovation, an accessibility complaint or a tenant requirement rather than by an inspector arriving unannounced — and where the code does apply, the entrance also has to meet clear-width and opening-force limits, not just open by itself.

The industry standard is a daily safety check by the building's own staff and a full inspection once a year by a certified inspector. Our technicians hold AAADM certification for exactly this — the annual inspection of automatic pedestrian doors — and the daily check takes about a minute: watch the door cycle, confirm it does not close on anything, confirm the signage and guide rails are still in place. Skipping the annual inspection is a liability question more than a maintenance one, because an automatic door is a powered machine that the public walks through.

Adding a low-energy operator to a door that already hangs correctly is the least expensive way into automation, and the price is driven by three things rather than by the operator itself: whether there is power at the head of the opening, whether the frame and leaf can carry the load, and how many activation points you want. Running a new circuit to a header on an existing masonry wall routinely costs more than the operator does. That circuit is electrical work, so it has to be run by a certified electrical contractor, and it normally sits outside our scope. What we do is tell you exactly what the operator needs at the header before you order, so the electrician can be booked in alongside the door rather than chased afterwards.