Why Commercial Doors Sag
Every commercial door hangs from its hinge side. On aluminum storefronts that is usually a set of offset pivots, sometimes with an intermediate pivot in the middle. On hollow metal and wood doors it is three or four full-mortise ball-bearing butt hinges. On the busiest entrances it may be a continuous geared hinge running the full height of the door.
Whatever the type, the hinge side carries the whole weight of the door every time it moves. Bearings wear, screws loosen and frames flex. Bit by bit the latch side drops. The first sign is usually a scrape on the threshold or a latch that has to be pushed to catch. By the time a door visibly sags, the closer and lock have already been working against it for months. Sagging hinges and worn pivots sit behind a large share of the commercial door repair calls we take across Toronto.
Hinge and Pivot Types We Repair
Offset and intermediate pivots
Standard on aluminum storefront and lobby doors. The bottom pivot carries most of the load and is the most common failure. Intermediate pivots help on taller and heavier doors.
Ball-bearing butt hinges
Standard on hollow metal and solid-core wood doors. Heavy-duty ball-bearing hinges are required on many commercial and fire-rated openings. We match size, weight rating and finish.
Continuous geared hinges
A full-height hinge with interlocking gears, offered by Hager and in Roton-style designs. It spreads load along the whole edge of the door and is the most durable option for heavy traffic.
Repair or Convert?
| Situation | Best fix | Typical range (CAD) |
|---|---|---|
| Stripped screws, hinge otherwise sound | Re-anchor and shim | $280 - $450 |
| First pivot failure, light-use door | Replace pivot set like-for-like | $400 - $700 |
| Worn butt hinges on hollow metal door | Replace hinges, shim jamb | $350 - $650 |
| Repeat sag on busy entrance | Continuous geared hinge conversion | $600 - $950 |
A continuous hinge conversion costs more upfront but often ends years of repeat calls. On high-traffic plaza and condo entrances, it usually pays for itself within a couple of seasons.
What a Hinge Repair Visit Includes
- Measuring gaps at the head, latch side and hinge side to see how far the door has dropped
- Inspecting pivots or hinges for bearing wear and pin damage
- Checking frame anchoring and hinge reinforcement for stripped threads
- Replacing or converting the hinge side and re-hanging the door square
- Shimming hinge jambs on hollow metal frames to restore clearances
- Re-setting the closer and lock once the door hangs true
The Domino Effect of a Bad Hinge
A sagging door does not just scrape. It forces the closer to work harder, which blows the seals and causes leaks. It pulls the latch out of line, which wears the strike and eventually shears the bolt. On aluminum storefronts it can crack the stile corners. On fire-rated doors it can open the clearances beyond what NFPA 80 allows.
That is why our technicians always check the hinge side on closer and lock calls, and why fixing the hinge first is the cheapest long-term repair.
Hinge Repair for Plazas and Condos
Plaza entrances and condo lobbies are where repeat sag costs the most. On one Richmond Hill plaza, three entrance doors dragged on the threshold every winter. Worn offset pivots were letting them drop. The crew converted all three to continuous geared hinges in one morning, re-set the closers and cleared the thresholds. Tenants kept trading through the install and the plaza has not logged a sag complaint since.
If several entrances in a building are showing the same wear, bundling them into one visit keeps cost per door down. A maintenance contract adds hinge and pivot lubrication to every visit so the problem does not come back.
Fire-Rated Doors and Hinges
Fire doors need hinges that suit their label, usually steel ball-bearing butt hinges or listed continuous hinges, with the correct number per leaf. Replacing a fire door hinge with an unlisted part can put the label in question. We replace like-for-like or with listed equivalents and confirm the door still closes and latches. Full fire door work is covered on our fire-rated door installation page.
Storefront Doors
Aluminum storefront doors have their own pivot hardware and stile limits. If your storefront also has lock or closer problems, our storefront door repair crews handle the whole entrance in one visit.
