Steel Bifold Doors

When your steel building kit is designed to be used as a residence or commercial building, your door options are pretty standard. You’ll expect typical outdoor and interior door systems with locking door knobs, glass doors used as storm doors, maybe french doors to a porch or deck, and typical garage doors that open to your daily use vehicle.

When your steel building is going to be used as an aircraft hangar or for other very large equipment storage, however, your door system options become a bit more complicated. Luckily, Worldwide Steel Buildings offer a variety of large folding doors suited for heavy duty use, and the expertise in steel windows & doors to help you decide which door type is best for your building.

Why Choose a Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Bifold System?

Large bi-fold doors offer a wider opening than can be made from traditional overhead and rollup doors. Often, they take up much of the stainless steel wall on which they’re located. By allowing for a wider opening, bi-folding doors will allow metal building owners to more easily store and move larger items, such as farming implements, heavy machinery, and of course, aircraft, through their exterior doors.

Common bi-folding door systems include:

• Traditional Bi-Fold Doors: These doors are horizontally split folding doors that fold in half when opening, like an accordion. Bi-fold doors are typically run by an electric motor that lifts cables or straps. They open to the exterior, meaning your aircraft or equipment can take up the entire interior space of your metal building, without worrying about getting in the way of the bi-fold system as it opens.
• Hydraulic Doors: A hydraulic door system is similar to a garage door you might find at home. These hydraulic doors open overhead and rise as a single unit. They can incorporate steel windows to let in light, which can add to the usability of your steel building. However, these doors typically occupy ceiling space when open since they don’t fold up like a bi-fold door.That means your equipment and storage can only reach the height of your door opening without obstructing it.
• Stack Doors: Although less common, stack doors are still an option for aircraft hangars as well as commercial buildings that could benefit from unobstructed views and sightlines. When using this type of heavy-duty door, which is not technically a bi-fold door, the opening on your building will be limited by the width of the overall structure, as these door panels slide open along the side of the building. That means each half of your stack door system cannot be wider than the wall which it will slide alongside. The benefit of this type of door system, however, is that it can be opened manually and is not subject to power outages.

Worldwide Steel Buildings can help you incorporate hangar-style steel windows & doors in your next steel building project, just like any other metal building accessory. Our team will help you design your next prefab steel building kit with the right type of bi-fold doors for your application. Contact our team today to learn more.