How to measure door dimensions

Roller doors in self storage facilities can be measured differently depending on why you’re measuring. The variances can seem quite small – 10mm might not seem very much, but it’s a lot when it’s the difference between smooth, easy operation and an ear-splitting screech and a jammed curtain.

Understanding these measurements is important as they will affect both how much your facility costs to build, how your customers interact with the facility, and what we need to know to help with repairs and replacements.

The most common measurements

Roller doors are usually measured in two ways: the door opening and the clear opening.

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Door opening

This is the literal opening in the corridor wall as framed by the partitioning and the channel. This isn’t so much measuring the door itself, but rather the space that the door will occupy.

You’ll most often see door opening values used in fit out design markups and architectural drawings to differentiate between different door sizes and is the most common method of describing roller door dimensions. It’s also used by our team to measure replacement doors.

Clear opening

Also known as the sunlight opening, this measures the height from the ground to the underside of a fully raised roller door curtain – which is generally 100mm less than the door opening height.

The width is measured the same way as the door opening.

This measure is used to explain the total clearance available to customers moving into their unit. Where the door opening tells you the size your doors need to be, the clear opening tells you if grandma’s antique shelves will actually fit under the door.

Other roller door measurements

These measurements are less common, but you may occasionally come across them in architectural drawings and conversations with designers.

Assembly height

This measures the height of a closed door from the bottom of the rubber weatherseal to the top of the door drum. It is used to determine the total height requirements in a storage fit out – it measures the height required to accommodate the door.

A minimum of 300mm is recommended between the top of a drum assembly and the ceiling above.

Curtain width

This measures the width of the physical roller door curtain. This is about 50mm wider than the opening width as this allows the door curtain to fully cover the door opening on both sides.

Curtain width is used most often in manufacturing and construction process: the curtain width determines how much actual material will be needed to make the door.

Track to track width

The distance between the two tracks that run either side of the doorway that the roller door curtain runs in. For all practical intents and purposes, this is the same as the curtain width.