The Benefits Of Wind Tested Garage Doors
If you are a regular reader of our Doormatic blog posts then you will have realised by now that you should only ever consider a garage door that has been pre tested to a minimum wind speed standard.
With more garage doors being installed in the UK than ever before and with the weather in the UK becoming more aggressive at shorter notice throughout the year, the relevance of wind testing has become a necessary requirement .
At Doormatic we work with major manufacturers that have wind testing certificates on their roller and garage doors, or any garage door for that matter. You may be surprised that the UK has witnessed winds hitting over 100mh on a regular occasion and it is evident that there are no longer periods of high seed sustained winds more than we have seen previously. Windows, buildings and doors have all been pushed to their limits thanks to the weather. If you garage door can not handle the wind force then the door can give way and cause damage on the outside and internally.
As of July 21st 2013 it became mandatory for all installers of garage doors and gates to CE mark their final installations to meet the requirements of the British Standard act and the EU Construction Products Regulation. This means that the product can not be installed at all if it does not meet the minimum standards. However the CE marking can be quite difficult to understand by an amaeutuer and is therefore best left for the professionals to take a look. But what you can do is make sure that your garage door is properly CE marked by the installer during the installation process. Unfortunately there are many companies out there who sell and install garage doors without the CE mark.
What is wind testing?
Wind testing is basically all about having a product that when installed into an opening it has a minimum wind resistance that has been professionally tested and approved. The minimum and default wind loading is a class 2 which is for wind speeds going just below 60mh and there are garage doors at class 3-4 that are for the most exposed locations – such as by the seaside.
The worst garage doors for slacking when it comes to the CE mark has to be the roller garage doors. Many companies out there will attempt to mark their own roller door as it is easy to manufacture a basic roller garage door by getting hold of your own materials from a number of different suppliers. These doors will be made to an absolute minimum spec and will very rarely comply fully with the minimum requirements for a genuine CE sticker and they will most certainly never have been wind tested.
Our advice to you from us here at Doormatic is to ensure that when you buy a garage door at a larger size from any manufacturer – please ensure the door is tested and certified to a minimum specification with a CE mark when installed and fitted.
At Doormatic all of our garage doors are fully CE marked and wind tested to exceed the requirements and legal standards.
Give us a call today for more information on our wide range of garage doors – We are here to help!
