 Many
factors contribute to a door's typical life cycle, with climate and
traffic critical among them. Essentially, anything that degrades the
initial integrity or functionality of any component shortens its useful
life. Parts 'wear out.' Equipment 'fails'. This is a common denominator
pit-fall of producing a product or providing a
service.
From this perspective, doors are no
different than any other piece of industrial equipment, except that the
time, effort and energy devoted to their maintenance and accrued 'life
cycle costs' often goes overlooked.
The cost of maintaining a door does not
stop with acquisition and installation. Typically, doors require routine
painting; doors warp and hinges must be realigned; doors deteriorate and
must be replaced often getting new hardware installed with them.
Also, all industrial doors are
not created equal. |
 Accurately
analyzing door life cycle costs is not easy as critical data is often not specifically tracked as part of routine
maintenance logs. Still, certain costs and procedures are predictable in context
of established norms. For example:
Typical 'in house' maintenance costs (for
employee wages, benefits, taxes, training, tools and supplies, etc.) range from
$40 to $60 per each hour of actual maintenance work. To have this same work done
by a sub-contracting service provider may run $80 to $120 per hour.
A hollow metal door in a high-traffic, abrasive
or caustic environment will on average need to be replaced every 5 years. Over
the same time period, that metal door will generally require 3 hours of routine
maintenance annually* accruing to 15 hours over the 5-year life-cycle of the
door. |
|
If a facility is routinely
replacing half a dozen hollow metal doors annually, these costs quickly
add up:
| |
Hollow Metal Door |
20-year cost |
|
UniPul Pultruded FRP Door |
20-year cost |
| |
5 years |
|
Life-cycle |
20 years |
|
| |
$750 |
x 4 = $3000 |
Door cost new |
$1000 |
$1000 |
| |
$500 |
x 4 = $2000 |
Hardware cost new |
$500 |
$500 |
| |
$50 |
x 4 = $200 |
Installation materials |
$50 |
$50 |
| |
2hr @ $60 = $120 |
x 4 = $480 |
Installation new/retrofit |
2hr @ $60 = $120 |
$120 |
| |
3hr @ $60 = $180 |
x 20 = $3600 |
Routine maintenance* |
0.5hr @ $60 = $30 |
x 20 = $600 |
| |
|
$9280 |
|
|
$2270 |
| |
*Estimated hourly annual maintenance costs include
repair and alignment adjustment (ie: re-securing failed hinge/closure
attachment, hardware/lockset adjustment due to warping), scraping,
priming, painting, cleaners and solvents, paint or industrial coating,
brushers, rollers, drop cloths, masking tape, skilled labor and tools. |
|
