Rollup door top seal

Deltarat · Aug 16, 2008

I did a search here as well as a internet search, but I could not find what I was looking for. My roll up door has a 2-3" gap at the top where it meets the front wall. If you stand in front of the door and look straight up you see the gap. I need a seal that is flexible to seal the ribs in the door. I tried putting a 1x4 across the gap, but the door hangs it going up and down. It needs to be flexible because the gap is larger when the door is down, because the roll is smaller and the gaps gets smaller as the roll gets larger.
What is used as a seal on the roll ups that any of you have?

blairtruck · Aug 16, 2008

i also need a product to fix this problem

Charles (in GA) · Aug 16, 2008

I have this problem. Only problem with a seal would be that it would have to drag on the door, and leave marks on the paint and the door would soon look terrible. I do think that there is a brush seal made that might work. I considered making a hinge door that is tied to the door in some manner where it would open as you opened the roll up door and close once the door roll is fully down.

Other option, but too late if you have a door already installed. You need the door about 1 ft higher than the framed opening. Note that the door runs up and down in a straight track, and if the roll is mounted well above the top of the framed opening the track will be straight and the door will pass very close (less than a half inch) from the top of the framed opening. Then the door would roll up ABOVE the opening, not AT the opening.

I have a 10x10 opening and a door made for this. If I did it over again, I would install an 11 ft high door and run the track a foot above the door header.

Charles

jcs_in_ky · Aug 17, 2008

I've got two Janus Intl. rollup metal doors on my shop. They both have a seal at the top, they referred to it as a "bird stop" seal. The seal really doesn't work well at all though. If you adjust it close enough to sell well then it rubs on the extrusions in the door and can actually cause it to bind from time to time. If you pull it back to where it doesn't touch the door then it doesn't seal. It wasn't flexible enough when it was installed and now a couple of years later it was worse. I wish I could come up with a better solution.

Lloydthumper · Aug 17, 2008

I have the same type of seal at the top of mine and When the wind blows it flaps but there again if I put it to close it rubs the door hard.

Deltarat · Aug 17, 2008

I was thinking of a brush type seal that would be soft enough not to hurt the finish of the door. Surely some door company has figured this out. Or maybe the ingenuity of the members of this board.I am glad to see this is not just my problem.

rsanter · Aug 17, 2008

what about some spring loaded piece that has rollers on the ends that will keep it evenly spaced as the door roll gets bigger

or how about enclosing the entire roll into a soffit box so that the inside of the box will be treated as if its an outside space

bob

VDubJoe · Aug 17, 2008

I plan on getting these for my rolling doors. They have a big variety. I used the piece of **** rubber seal they gave me with the doors. And promptly removed it. I think in a very short time the paint would be gone let alone the loud flapping noise.

www.sealeze.com/proseal.htm

Joe H

Lloydthumper · Aug 18, 2008

Those are what I have on the sides of my door They haven't scratched it yet but My doors have not been up and down that many times either.

shopnut · Aug 18, 2008

VDubJoe said:
I plan on getting these for my rolling doors. They have a big variety. I used the piece of **** rubber seal they gave me with the doors. And promptly removed it. I think in a very short time the paint would be gone let alone the loud flapping noise.

www.sealeze.com/proseal.htm

Joe H

We have used the SEALEZE product at work before. They make long and short bristles and the long ones were quite soft and I don't think it would hurt the paint. Pretty pricy though, from what I remember.

I do, however, like the idea of some type of roller system as mentioned in another post and will ponder on that for a while. :headscrat

Captain · Aug 20, 2008

Sorry I can not help with suppliers for you, but here in Australia we have a roller door company that has designed a seal for this gap, (although only to 38mm - 1 1/2")
It was designed to keep embers out in bushfire areas, but I have installed the seal to keep dust and leaves out.

It is a curved rubber strip that is mounted into an aluminium section that is attached to the roller door. In the closed position it meets the lintel. When you open the door, the rubber just flattens within the door roll, so no rubbing problems.
It is a bit hard to picture how it works if you haven't seen one, but check the brochure on their website for an idea.
http://www.bnd.com.au/shop/?fuseaction=info&id=121&i=1&ct_id=62

I have also seen soft brushes used for a larger gap; a bigger version of what is used on the bottom of sliding doors.

wheelz · Aug 20, 2008

VDubJoe said:
I plan on getting these for my rolling doors. They have a big variety. I used the piece of **** rubber seal they gave me with the doors. And promptly removed it. I think in a very short time the paint would be gone let alone the loud flapping noise.

www.sealeze.com/proseal.htm

Joe H

This is the right type of seal. You should be able to get it from your local industrial garage door store such as "Overhead Door". McMaster Carr also has this type of seal. I like the straight or 180 deg seal for the sides with a short brush and a 45 deg seal for across the top with a longer brush. The longer brush is needed across the top since the door gap is bigger and most of the time the 45 deg brush across the top just seems to fit better since the door is starting to angle away as it rolls onto the drum. If the door is manually operated with a chain and the gap is more than 2 or 3 inches you might need to after closeing the door, pull down on the chain and hook it into the wall bracket. This will force the drum to unroll a little more door and will push the door closer to the wall making the gap much smaller.

Deltarat · Aug 20, 2008

Thanks,Wheelz. I will check those sources.

glider · Aug 22, 2008

Been waiting to see if any results for that top gap. I build sheds and use Janus doors for every one for about four years now. What a great product but the gap. Would like to fix but the cost I am sure would be high.

Charles (in GA) · Aug 23, 2008

glider said:
Been waiting to see if any results for that top gap. I build sheds and use Janus doors for every one for about four years now. What a great product but the gap. Would like to fix but the cost I am sure would be high.

As I noted, the best fix for this is to use a door that is 6 inches to a foot higher than the framed opening. This will leave the door passing very close to, and staying a constant distance, from the top of the opening/frame/header/lintel.

Charles

Charles (in GA) · Aug 23, 2008

I like that Aussie roll up door seal.

http://www.bnd.com.au/content/?action=getfile&id=330

Wonder how much shipping from Oz is?

Charles

shopnut · Jul 27, 2009

I also have been trying to find and easy way to close up the large gap up there - perhaps this BND product is the solution for doors already installed.

Another suggestion for new roll-up door installations without extra height available:

I noticed if you drive the door down even after the bottom touches the ground, you can unroll the door panel a bit more from the drum, thus cutting the top gap nearly in half. It takes a bit of effort to do this and I don't recommend it on a daily basis for the standard door.

However, for those guys buying new rollup doors to install - my suggestion would be to ask the manufacturer if they can supply the door with about an extra foot of corrugated door panel on the drum with everything else unchanged. This will allow this "unrolling" to occur much easier and close that gap to nearly zero.

BoydS · Jul 27, 2009

I've got the same problem of needing a seal for the top of my OH coiled doors. I looked at the Sealeze website before and liked their brush seal products, but never contacted them for pricing. Instead, I contacted a few of the OH door companies in my area and one of them has a similar product. They quoted me $4 a linear foot for a 3" long brush. That cost did not include the mounting hardware, ie SS screws. Another local company quoted me $10 a running foot for a rubber type seal, but that's a bit pricey for me. Although I haven't purchased the brush seal at this time, I will go with that type in the near future.

The company I purchased the doors from has a seal as well. I contacted them and ask for a catalog cutsheet, but never received it. So I will have to ask them again. Their website doesn't have a clear definition or picture of their seal, but it does appear to be some type of rubber seal instead of the brush type.

Schtauffer · Jul 28, 2009

Most of the manufacturers supply a piece of rubber that attaches to the door itself. It works relatively well, but it does roll up inside the door when it is opened. We get ours from Re-Source Industries; they have it in 75 foot rolls.

I would do brush seals if it was mine, but I would never buy a rollup sheet door if I was worried about it sealing.

Rollup door top seal

Deltarat

Well-known member

blairtruck

Active member

Charles (in GA)

Well-known member

jcs_in_ky

Well-known member

Lloydthumper

Well-known member

Deltarat

Well-known member

rsanter

Well-known member

VDubJoe

Well-known member

Lloydthumper

Well-known member

shopnut

Well-known member

Captain

Well-known member

wheelz

Member

Deltarat

Well-known member

glider

Well-known member

Charles (in GA)

Well-known member

Charles (in GA)

Well-known member

shopnut

Well-known member

BoydS

Well-known member

Schtauffer

Well-known member