Door installation and repair in Scarborough

The frame is part of the job. We supply and set hollow metal frames — knock down or welded — anchor them into masonry, block, stud or existing openings, and repair or replace a frame that has failed rather than hanging a new leaf on a bent one. What we do not do is structural alteration: if the opening has to be cut, widened or have a new lintel, that is a mason's or a structural trade's work, and we coordinate with them rather than pretending otherwise.

Repair, in most cases. Sensors, belts, carriers, rollers, boards, motors, arms and linkages are all replaceable in place, and the framing usually outlives several generations of operator. Replacement becomes the right call in three situations: parts are no longer manufactured, the framing is damaged or out of square beyond adjustment, or the opening now has to do something it was never built for — most often become barrier-free or wider. An operator swap into sound existing framing is far less expensive than a new entrance.

Often, and it is the smaller job. If the frame is square, solidly anchored and not rusted through, a new leaf can be made to the existing frame's dimensions and hardware locations. What rules it out is a frame that has been pushed out of square, one whose anchors have let go in the masonry, or rust at the floor line that leaves nothing to fix a hinge to. We check the frame on the measure and tell you which of the two jobs it is.

Because commercial glass is made to your opening. Tempered glass cannot be cut, drilled or edged after it is manufactured, and sealed insulating units are assembled to size, so every unit has a fabrication lead time — there is no stock pane on a truck that fits a shopfront bay. Any company promising same-night replacement of commercial glass is describing a residential stock size, or is going to board it up like everyone else. The board-up is what makes the wait safe.

A dock plate or dock board is a portable ramp — a slab of aluminum or steel with curbs and lifting handles — that is set into place by hand and lifted out again. A leveler is fixed equipment built into the dock. Plates suit occasional use, low volumes and hand pallet trucks; they are limited in capacity, have to be positioned correctly every single time, and are a manual-handling and fall risk in their own right. Any dock doing regular forklift traffic should have levelers, not plates.

Nine times out of ten it is the closer. A door closer has separate adjustments for swing speed, latch speed and backcheck, and when a door stops short the closer has either drifted out of adjustment or started losing oil. Adjustment is the first fix; if the body is weeping oil, no adjustment holds and the closer gets replaced. The other common cause is a worn top or bottom pivot letting the leaf sit out of square, which we correct by replacing the pivot and re-squaring the door.