Measured on site, quoted in writing
Commercial garage door installation and replacement in Ottawa
A commercial door job starts with a tape measure, not a catalogue. We take the clear opening, the side room, the headroom and the backroom, confirm whether the building needs a wind load rating, then quote the door, the hardware and the operator in writing. Commercial pricing follows the site visit, because no two openings in an Ottawa industrial park are the same.
How do you measure an existing commercial opening for a new door?
We measure the clear opening width and height at three points each, then side room, headroom and backroom, plus floor slope and jamb condition. Those six numbers decide the track type, the spring and the operator, before anything is ordered.
Three points each is not fussiness. Masonry openings move, steel jambs get hit by forklifts, and a slab poured with a slope to a drain can leave an opening an inch out of square across its width. We measure to the finished opening the door has to seal, not to the frame somebody drew, and we take the narrowest reading as the working number.
The same visit records what is already on the wall: track radius, whether the horizontal track is angle mounted or hung on drops, spring pad and shaft height, the size and condition of the jamb pads, and what the walls are made of, because an anchor into block behaves nothing like an anchor into a steel column. Omar takes photographs of every bracket and shaft so the order sheet is built from the building rather than from memory.
How much headroom and backroom does a commercial door need?
A standard lift sectional wants about 12 inches of headroom above the opening and backroom of the door height plus 18 inches, with roughly another 30 inches for a trolley operator. Low headroom hardware brings that down to about 6 inches.
Measure headroom to the lowest thing in the way, not to the deck. Sprinkler heads, ductwork, conduit, light fixtures, hoist rails and a structural beam all count, and any one of them can turn a standard lift job into a low headroom job or push the shaft to high lift. Backroom is the same discipline: the horizontal track and the operator both live back there, and a mezzanine or a racking run that starts too close to the opening decides the hardware for you.
Rolling steel plays by different numbers, because the curtain coils on a barrel above the opening instead of running back along the ceiling. Headroom there is driven by curtain height and slat profile, so a tall door needs a bigger coil, and the hood has to clear whatever is above it. A jackshaft operator mounted on the torsion shaft is the usual answer when the ceiling is already spoken for, and it is why we ask about the sprinkler layout before we pick an operator.
What is wind load, and when does an Ottawa building need a rated door?
Wind load is the pressure a door has to resist without leaving its tracks. In Ottawa it matters most on wide, exposed openings. When the drawings or the building engineer specify a design pressure, we order a door rated to that number.
A door is the largest hole in the wall, so it is where the pressure shows up first. The exposure that drives it is width, height, how open the site is, and where the opening sits on the building. A 20 foot wide door on an unsheltered end wall in an open field industrial park is a different problem from an 8 foot door tucked between two buildings, and that difference is what the design pressure on the drawings expresses.
A rated door is a system, not a sticker. It carries struts across every section, heavier end and centre stiles, wind locks on the section ends that engage a heavier track, and a jamb attachment schedule that fastens into structure at a stated spacing. Swap any one of those for the cheaper part and the rating no longer applies, which is why the anchors and the track come on the same order as the door. We do not invent the number: it comes from the drawings, the engineer or the authority having jurisdiction, and we build to it.
Can a new door reuse the existing tracks and frame?
Sometimes, and it is worth checking. Tracks, brackets and the spring assembly are sized to the door they came with, so weight, thickness and track radius all have to match. Bent, rusted or drilled out track gets replaced, not reused.
Weight is the part people miss. An insulated sandwich panel section is heavier than the single skin door it replaces, and springs are wound for a specific door weight and a specific drum. Hang a heavier door on the old spring and it is out of balance from the first cycle, the operator carries the difference, and the cycle life you paid for quietly disappears. We weigh the door or take the manufacturer weight, then size the spring and drum to it.
Radius matters too. A door built for a 15 inch radius track will bind and rub in 12 inch track, and thicker sections need the roller stem length to match the bracket. On the frame side we probe the jamb pads, check that anchors still have something to bite, and look at how the old track was fastened, because a track that has been redrilled three times has no clean holes left. When reuse is genuinely fine we say so and it comes off the quote. When it is not, the honest saving is a door that runs for its rated cycles instead of a callback.
How long is the opening out of service during a door swap?
Plan on the opening being out of service for most of a working day per door. A straight swap on sound existing structure is usually 4 to 6 hours. Rolling steel, wind rated doors and new jambs take longer, sometimes two days.
What stretches the day is rarely the door. It is the discovery: a rotten or crushed jamb pad that has to be rebuilt, anchors that pull out of tired block, a shaft that has to move for high lift, or a wind load anchor schedule that puts four times as many fasteners into concrete. Where the site visit has already found those, they are in the quote and in the schedule instead of turning up at three in the afternoon.
On a building with more than one bay we work one opening at a time so loading traffic keeps moving, and we sequence the doors around your busiest hours rather than ours. If a door cannot be finished the same day, the opening gets closed and secured before we leave. No building of ours is left open overnight, and that is a scheduling promise you can hold us to, backed by the same 90 day Done-Right guarantee that covers the labour on every job.
What does HUSH need from the building before install day?
Clear access to the opening inside and out, a parking spot for the truck, power at the wall, and a name on site who can sign off. For anything with a controller or three phase supply, an electrician confirmed before we arrive.
Concretely: racking, pallets and vehicles pulled back about 10 feet from the inside of the opening, the strip of floor where the bottom seal lands swept clear, and the outside approach kept free so the old door can come out and the new sections can come in. If the site runs a contractor check in, tell us the process a week ahead. HUSH carries commercial general liability insurance and WSIB coverage, and we send both certificates to the property manager or the general contractor before install day rather than at the gate.
Power is the one that delays jobs. We set the operator, mount the controls and wire the low voltage side, including the photo eyes and the entrapment protection that UL325 requires on a commercial installation, but the 120 volt or three phase feed and the lockable disconnect belong to an electrician. On three phase gear head units the rotation has to be confirmed at first power up, so we would rather the feed be live and tested the day before. Flag any interlock with a fire alarm, an access control system or another door at quoting time, because that changes the operator and the wiring, not just the settings.
Who removes and disposes of the old door?
We do, unless you want to keep it. Hauling and disposal of the old door, track, springs and operator are an added fee, shown as their own line on the quote, and the steel goes to a metal recycler rather than a bin in your yard.
Removal is the part of the day with the real hazard in it. A torsion spring is still holding the door weight even when the door looks dead, so it is unwound with winding bars, one quarter turn at a time, before a single bracket comes off. Cables come off the drums after that, then the sections come down from the top. Anyone quoting you a door swap should be able to describe that sequence without being asked.
If the existing operator is recent, matched to the new door weight and duty cycle, and carries working entrapment protection, it can often be re hung and reused, and we will tell you when that is the better call. Older units usually leave with the door. If you want to keep any of it, say so at the quote and we will stack it where you want it instead of loading it.
The rest of the commercial door work
One site visit, then a written price you approve first
Omar measures the opening, checks the headroom, the backroom and the wind load requirement, and puts the door, the hardware, the operator and the removal of the old door in one written quote. Nothing is ordered until you sign it. Repairs to an existing door carry a service call of $35 to $85, free on any repair over $250, and every job is backed by what the 90 day Done-Right Guarantee covers on labour.
Book the site visitWe install commercial doors across the industrial parks and business districts we drive to, on both sides of the river.
- Every major brand serviced
- Factory-trained
- Insured and WSIB-covered
Same-day service
We carry the common springs, cables, rollers and opener parts on every truck, so most repairs are one visit.
A written price before we start
You get a firm price, quoted before we start and never after, and there is no overtime fee at night or on a weekend.
Guaranteed work
Every repair is backed by our written 90-day Done-Right Promise, parts and labour included.
Factory-trained and owner-operated
factory-trained, owner-operated, and servicing every major garage door and opener brand.
Free estimate, and the service call is free with any repair over $250. Ask about financing on approved credit.
From call to fixed, in 4 steps
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Call or book
Tell us what is happening. We give you a real arrival window.
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We diagnose on-site
A technician inspects and shows you exactly what is wrong.
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You get a firm quote
We price the fix and walk you through your options, before any work.
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We fix it, you test it
Most repairs done the same visit, backed by our 90-day promise.
HUSH guarantees its labour for 90 days
The Done-Right Promise covers our labour for 90 days on every repair. If the work is not right, we come back and fix it free. Premium parts carry their own manufacturer warranty.
We can promise this because most of our repairs are done right on the first visit, so callbacks are rare. On the rare one, fixing it is on us, never you.
A bay door on order, or one that has to go this week?
Tell us the opening size and what is above it. We book the measure and quote the whole job in writing.
Same-day, 7 days a week. Open daily, 7am to 9pm.