Types of Strip Doors

Providing your employees with comfortable working conditions and protecting your products from external contaminants are important, but it can be difficult—and expensive—to do so. However, installing strip doors in your industrial or commercial setting is one of the most cost-effective ways to separate work environments and help prevent insects, inclement weather, dust, and noise from affecting your inventory or staff. Plus, they can also save you money on energy costs by reducing the loss of hot or cold air, depending on your application. This guide is designed to explain the ins and outs of strip doors with the goal of helping you choose the best one for your business!

Benefits of Strip Doors

Installing strip doors in your warehouse, commercial kitchen, or other industrial location can both improve working conditions and save you money. Some of the greatest benefits of installing strip doors are highlighted below:

Separates work environments effectively - When you compare the cost of installing a wall or a traditional door to the cost of putting up a strip door, there's no arguing the fact that strip doors are less expensive, easier to reconfigure and maintain, and will cause less disruption to your business during the initial installation.
Reduces heating and energy costs - Whether you're attempting to keep cold air inside a walk-in freezer or contain hot, humid air in your dishroom, a strip door creates a barrier that will help insulate rooms. This keeps your heating or refrigeration system from working overtime just to maintain the correct temperature.
Creates a more comfortable work environment - No one wants to work for a long period of time in conditions that include insects, dust, harsh weather, fumes, or excessive noise. Luckily, strip doors are designed to protect your workers from these undesirable elements and encourage a safer, more comfortable environment.
Promotes better workflow - It may not seem like much, but every time your employees have to stop to open a traditional door, time is lost. Strip doors not only allow people and equipment to efficiently pass through the door without waiting, but they also increase visibility so your workers can be more aware of their surroundings. This makes for less dangerous working conditions and greater productivity.

Purchasing a Strip Door

There are several different options available when choosing a strip door. The first thing you'll want to do is measure the size of your door opening so that you can determine if a pre-cut size will work, or if you need a custom configuration.

Strip Curtain Doors

Pre-cut to common door sizes for convenience.
Mounting bar may be included.

A set of pre-cut strip curtain replacement strips

Individual Door Strips

Replaces individual door plastic strips.
Cost-effective, comes in pre-cut sizes.

Strip Door Rolls

Create / replace custom-sized plastic strips for doors.
Rolls 100' - 400' long.

Curtain Swing Doors

2 large strips instead of many small ones.
Strips swing open and closed.

Strip Door Material and Application

PVC Strip Doors

PVC is the most common material used on curtain door plastic strips. The type of PVC you will want to use is largely dependent on where it’s being installed:

Polar reinforced PVC strip doors are rated for use in freezers or in outdoor applications where temperatures may fall to as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Standard grade PVC strip doors are recommended for areas where the ambient temperature will not dip below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ribbed PVC strip doors are ideal for heavy traffic areas because they significantly reduce the appearance of scratches and mars in the material. This keeps your workers safe by ensuring that their visibility isn't compromised.

Although many strip doors are clear for visibility purposes, there are also tinted versions available for use in specific applications like welding partitions or forklift traffic lanes.

In general, the PVC material used to make strip doors is rated based on the following criteria:

Thermal Conductivity - The rate at which heat passes through the strip door
Tensile Strength - The maximum amount of stress the strip door can withstand before stretching, tearing, etc.
Noise Abatement - The reduction in decibels as a result of the strip door, which often depends on the thickness of the material
Ultraviolet-Resistance - Some strip doors contain ultraviolet inhibitors to allow them to be used outdoors in direct sunlight
Anti-Static - Some strip doors are rated for use where static can be dangerous, such as areas that contain flammable substances
Flame-Resistance - Some strip doors are rated for flame resistance since certain states have more stringent guidelines on the use of flame retardant material

Mesh Strip Doors

Mesh strip doors are a great option for spaces that just need to control insects, with no temperature regulation. These doors also promote airflow through rooms that need to be aerated due to cooking or cleaning.

They're a great option for back doors of restaurants, cafeterias, and food prep facilities, and the strips are weighted on the bottom to prevent them from blowing too freely in a breeze.

	Curtron Curtronizer Series Strip Doors	Curtron M Series Strip Doors	Curtron Ribbed Strip Doors	Curtron Personnel Strip Doors	Curtron Mesh Strip Doors	Norlake Kold Locker Strip Doors
Temperature Range	Standard: 0-160 degrees Fahrenheit Polar Reinforced: -40-140 degrees Fahrenheit	Standard: 0-160 degrees Fahrenheit Polar Reinforced: -20-150 degrees Fahrenheit	Standard: 0-150 degrees Fahrenheit Polar Reinforced: -20-140 degrees Fahrenheit	Standard: 0-150 degrees Fahrenheit	N/A	-30-125 degrees Fahrenheit
Insect Protection
Dock Doors
Cooler Doors
Freezer Doors
Spray Areas
Restaurant Doors
Personnel Doors
Light Industrial Doors
Medium Industrial Doors
Forklift Traffic
Temperature Control
Workflow Improvement
Comfort Control
Warehouse Doors

Replacement Plastic Strips for Doors

One of the best things about strip doors is that a tear in one strip doesn't mean the entire door has to be thrown away. However, knowing the difference between the styles of plastic flaps for doors and how they attach to the mounting bar is an important part of your purchasing consideration.

Looped strips feature a heat-sealed loop at the end of each strip. Because this type of strip slides onto a mounting bar rather than attaching to individual hooks, it is less likely to fall off and interrupt the workflow of your business. The mounting bar also makes it easier to clean the door; simply remove the bar to take the door down and clean everything at the same time.

Punched hole strips have several holes at the end of each strip. To hang this type of strip, each hole must be matched up to a hook or peg in order to stay fastened. This design makes individual strips easy to replace or clean, but they are more prone to ripping off in high traffic locations and can be more tedious to attach.

Customizing Your Strip Door

Perhaps after browsing our selection of strip doors, you've decided that buying a roll of material and creating your own customized strip door is the best option for you. Follow these steps to create a tailor-made strip door without the fear of wasting material!

Step One: Measure your door opening.

In addition to recording the dimensions of the doorway, it's important to note anything that may hinder the installation of the door like space limitations on either side of the door or obstructions within the door frame.

Step Two: Determine how wide the strips need to be.

Consider what type of traffic will be moving through the door. For personnel, carts, and general traffic, 6"-8" wide strips will work fine. Larger equipment and industrial-type traffic should use 12"-16" wide strips. Check out the chart below for some guidelines on choosing the right width.

Door Height	Exterior Door/Heavy Traffic		Interior Door/Light Traffic
	Strip Width	Strip Thickness	Strip Width	Strip Thickness
7'			4"-6"	.060"
8'	8"	.080"
10'			8"	.080"
12'	12"	.120"
14'			12"	.120"
16'	16"	.160"
18'			16"	.160"

Step Three: Decide how much overlap you want between strips.

If you're installing an exterior door, it's best to go with 100% overlap to protect against inclement weather and wind. Indoor applications can generally get away with 25%, 50%, or 75% overlap.

Step Four: Determine the linear footage of PVC strip needed for your application.

Find the strip width you chose on the chart below, and cross reference against the percentage of overlap you want to get the "multiplying factor."

Multiplying Factors
Strip Width	25%	50%	75%	100%
4"		4		6
6"				4
8"	1.75	2	2.5	3
12"		1.35		2
16"	.875	1	1.2	1.5

Then, follow these instructions to determine the amount of material you will need to create your custom strip door. This calculation gives you the answer in linear footage so you know how long of a roll you should buy to complete your project. In the example below, you would need a roll at least 104' long to create a strip door to cover your door opening.

Instructions	Multiply the door width (') by the multiplying factor you found in the table above.	Add 1 to get the total number of strips you need (adding an additional strip accounts for edge exposure).	Multiply the total number of strips by your door height (') to get the total linear footage of PVC strip needed.
Example (4'W x 8'H door with 8" strips and 100% overlap)	4' x 3 = 12	12 + 1 = 13	13 x 8' = 104'

Step Five: Identify the best strip material for your application.

The type of strip you need to purchase is entirely dependent on where you will place the strip door. For example, if you're installing the door into a freezer, you will need to purchase a low temperature strip. If visibility is important because you're placing it in a high traffic area, then a standard, clear PVC strip is the perfect choice.

Step Six: Consider how you will mount the strip door.

There are a variety of ways that you can mount your strip door, and while the most common ways are wall or in-jamb mounts, there are others to consider listed in the chart below!

Type of Mount	Explanation	Best Application	Potential Drawbacks
In-Jamb Mount	Hardware that is mounted within the doorframe	Doors where space immediately around the doorframe is limited	Lowers the height of the door
Wall Mount	Hardware that is mounted above the door	Good for the majority of applications	Requires more strip material to cover the same door opening
Universal Mount	Hardware that can be mounted within or above the doorframe	When a large number of strip doors are ordered with varying mounting requirements or there is uncertainty over which mounting option will work best	Can affect the amount of strip material needed to cover the entire door, depending on which mounting option is used
Piano Hinge	Hinge that allows the entire door to pivot	Doors that need to accommodate two-way traffic or large equipment with little clearance room	Lowers the height of the door
Overhead Door Bracket	Brackets that allow the door to be mounted away from the door opening	Doorways that contain an obstruction like a door track or a pipe	Takes up more space around the door as the brackets project from the wall around the doorway
Sliding Track	Track that allows the strip door to be slid completely out of the way without taking it down	Doorways where the strip door is not always necessary due to climate or application	Must be ample room on one or both sides of the door to use this type of mount
Accordion Hardware	Hardware that works similar to a sliding track but can be mounted within the doorframe when there is not enough space on either side of the door to mount a sliding track	Doorways where there is not enough space to allow for a sliding strip door; doorways where the strip door is not always necessary due to climate or application	Can limit the amount of space within the doorframe

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