Nebraska can have extreme temperatures throughout the year, leaving your farming property vulnerable to water, ice and sunlight damage. Hungry pests may also try to find a way into your property to snack on your produce. Your barn, grain store or livestock stable should protect your resources from these weather conditions.
A sturdy, energy-efficient door can help guard your harvest and animals against the elements by providing an additional barrier around the structure. Explore the custom options available for farm doors to find the right product for your property. This guide can help you discover the advantages of having a reliable, aesthetically pleasing door for your agricultural property and how to choose one that works for your business.
Benefits of Agricultural Doors
A sturdy, long-lasting door can enhance your structure’s aesthetic and guard it against harsh weather conditions and pests. Here are some of the ways the right door can add value to your agricultural buildings.
1. Keep Your Agricultural Building Safe
You probably built your barn or warehouse to protect your farming equipment or produce from harm. Durable steel garage or entry doors can withstand weather damage and maintain their integrity, enhancing your property’s barrier against outside influences. Any gaps in your door can leave your property vulnerable to pests and intruders. When you have a new entry free from cracks or openings, you can be confident that you’ll keep out unwanted visitors and preserve your valuable resources from unpleasant weather conditions.
2. Control the Temperature in Your Agricultural Building
Keeping your livestock or crops in a space with a controlled temperature can help them last longer, so they’re ready for your customers. Insulated doors act as a protective barrier against the outside temperature and humidity. As a result, you can create an environment in your barn or storage structure where your livestock and vegetation can thrive.
Consider enhancing your door’s insulation qualities by investing in additional layers of polyurethane or polystyrene. You can also request an entry with multiple layers of galvanized steel to make it more durable.
3. Save Money on Energy Costs
Since farming is a lucrative source of income, you most likely want to reduce expenses wherever you can to enhance your profit. Using a heating, cooling or humidification system to keep your grain, vegetables and livestock in the ideal environment can get expensive, especially if your door has gaps that leak air outside. A durable, energy-efficient door can prevent drafts and keep the indoor air inside, saving you money on energy and leaving you with more revenue to support your family.
4. Conveniently Access Your Storage Items
When you have customers and family members expecting food from your farm, you need to be able to find and collect your produce, livestock and harvesting machinery as quickly as possible. An easy-to-use agricultural door can give you access inside your storage unit without obstructing your pathway to your resources. Sliding doors travel against the wall, leaving you plenty of room to drive your tractors and other oversized farming equipment out of your agricultural building.
5. Extend Your Equipment’s Lifespan
Your pieces of farming equipment are significant investments that you need to harvest your crops and navigate your property. These steel products should last for years when you maintain them properly. However, cold, rainy weather can corrode the metal components and leave them vulnerable to power failures over time. An agricultural door on your storage unit can help protect your equipment from weather damage and corrosion. By providing a temperature-controlled environment, you can also prolong the freshness of your fruits, vegetables and grain.
6. Save Time on Taking Care of Your Property
With all the work you have to do around the land, you may not want to think about maintaining the door to your storage structure. Choose a material that doesn’t require regular treatment and that you can conveniently clean with mild soap and warm water. A durable door can withstand dents and stains from snow, rain, wind or hail. Since it also protects the inside of your barn or warehouse from damage, you can spend less time cleaning and repairing your walls after every storm.
Agricultural Building Applications
You may need to install farm building doors on the following structures.
- Aircraft hangar: If you have an aircraft on your property, you need a spacious, durable door to give you access to your storage unit. The hangar can help guard your property against direct sunlight and other weather damage, reducing its risk of corrosion or power failure. A large, sturdy garage door can seal the structure to keep your craft safe.
- Crop storage: Whether you use a silo or warehouse to store your crops, the property should protect your produce from harsh weather conditions and hungry pests. An insulated agricultural door can maintain the temperature of the place where you store your crops.
- Dairy buildings: You might have a place on your property where you keep your cows, process milk products and package your products for distribution. This storage unit needs to be comfortable for your cows and at a safe temperature that won’t spoil the milk. Insulated cattle shed doors have custom sizes that allow enough space for your livestock.
- Equestrian stables: An equestrian facility accommodates your horses and provides a place for them to eat and even train for races if you have the room. Since these structures feature steel framing, you have the durability, but you probably need some more insulation to provide an area for your horses all year long. It’s best to invest in agricultural stable doors large enough to corral your horses out of the stable without hitting their heads.
- Equipment and machine storage: The structure where you store your farming equipment and machinery should be large enough to accommodate your resources for collecting your crops and traveling around your property. Your entry or garage door should provide convenient access into and out of it. The door should also protect your equipment from weather damage, so you can continue to use it for years.
- Farm shop: You may sell produce directly on your property, and you’ll need a place for your customers to pick up and pay for crops. Farm shop doors can be large to provides plenty of ventilation on a hot summer day. If you have an office attached to your farm shop, you may want to have an easy-to-use entry door, so customers and employees can quickly come in and out.
- Grain storage: The barn gives you a place to store grain. Depending on how you use it, you’ll most likely need some protection against the weather and a way to control your structure’s humidity or dryness. Barn doors come in various sizes and materials to fit within your existing property.
- Livestock housing: If you have farm animals on your property in addition to your harvested crops, you may want to keep them in a designated area. An energy-efficient door for the housing for your livestock needs to provide ventilation while also providing insulation during the cold winter months.
Types of Doors for Agricultural Buildings
Consider the kind of agricultural doors available to you, so you can find one that works for you and your property.
1. Large Sliding Doors
Large door systems can make your storage building more functional. This configuration tends to be the most economical option for your property, especially for post-frame barn construction. Agricultural sliding doors make it easy to enter and exit a farmhouse. You can open the door wider and have more space on the floor with a sliding door system, instead of door hinges on the side or overhead tracks. Have your door slide smoothly next to the wall to save even more room as you open it.
2. Overhead Hydraulic Doors
A hydraulic opening system features cylinders, pumps and hinges that provide movement for the garage door and enhance its durability. The hinges on top of the doorframe allow the door to swing out instead of taking up space inside. This configuration provides more floor space instead of needing room to swing doors into or out of the structure. Agricultural garage doors are suitable for sturdy properties that can accommodate this product’s stress on the building.
3. Bifold Doors
Agricultural bifold doors are easy to use and take up less space than a traditional door. It pulls open from the center and provides convenient access to the inside of your property with one swift motion. It also offers better views of the outside and gives enough ventilation and natural light when the weather is pleasant outside. The best part about this configuration is that you can leave it partially open to control the area’s temperature and provide enough airflow into your space without having to open the door completely.
4. Roller Doors
Agricultural roller doors feature durable, galvanized steel, and they roll up to give you plenty of space for you to access your grain storage or farming equipment. Most roll-up garage doors are suitable for warehouses and storage facilities. You can find wind-rated agricultural roller shutters to accommodate the wind near your property. They come in various colors that can complement your farm building.
5. Personal Entry Doors
Agricultural storm doors allow you access into and out of your commercial property. Consider getting yours insulated to protect against weather temperatures all year long. Deluxe steel doors are exceptional for providing durability, so you can guard all the contents within your barn or agricultural structure. Paint or prime them any color you want to match the rest of your property.
Customized Solutions for Your Agricultural Doors
Consider what type of door you need for your equipment, crops or livestock. If you need a large garage to accommodate your oversized agricultural equipment, you may look for custom sizes to get the exact product you need. Discuss your door distributor options to retrofit a product to your existing structure or fit in a new building. If you need more space to accommodate new equipment, you may want to make changes to the current property to fit your new oversized door.
Besides the type of agricultural door you choose, you can also customize it according to your unique design preference. Discuss your options with your door manufacturer to learn what custom choices are available for your configuration. Consider these factors for your farm doors.
- Custom size: Whether you need an entry door for you or an overhead door for maneuvering your tractor, you can request a custom-sized door. When designing your door, try to make it as large as possible to accommodate all the equipment you have now and in the future. We can retrofit your door to fit within your existing structure, but if you need a larger one, we’ll adjust the doorframe to fit your new product.
- Exterior color: Depending on the material you choose for your agricultural door, you can typically paint or stain it any color you want. If you like the color of natural wood, you could apply a wood finish to the door. The exterior color of your entry or overhead door should complement the rest of the property somehow. Also, remember that lighter colors reflect heat, while darker ones absorb it.
- Windows: If you’d like to let more natural light into your property, consider adding windows to your door. You could make them any size or shape, depending on your desired appearance. You may also want to add decorative grilles to the windows to provide a unique appearance. You can also remove these embellishments when you need to clean the windows.
- Material: Choose a garage or entry door material that can withstand your area’s weather conditions. You should pick a material that complements the rest of your design. A rustic wooden door may be the perfect fit for a traditional barn, but perhaps not for your aircraft hangar.
- Decorative elements: Besides window grilles and unique paint color, you can adorn your door with custom features. Consider the hardware you’d like to put on your door, like metal handles or hinges. These decorative features may enhance your barn aesthetic.
- Insulation: To protect your property from harsh weather conditions, you need the proper insulation for your entry or garage door. Keep in mind that adding polyurethane or polystyrene insulation to your door makes it heavier, so you’ll need to check the weight capacity of your pole barn or stick-built construction. Unless you’re housing temperature-sensitive equipment or goods, you might not even need insulation on your door.
Contact AAA Garage Door for Agricultural Doors
If you need a new door for your farming property in Omaha, Neb., browse through our inventory of farm doors for agricultural buildings. We offer plenty of entryways for your property, such as commercial roll-up garage doors, entry doors and operating systems. We provide GSD operators for sliding doors and standard garage door openers for overhead ones. Contact us online or call 402-727-0789 to request an estimate. You can also come to visit our showroom if you’re in the local area.
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Felipe Pinales
Reviewed By: Felipe Pinales - Felipe is Nebraska’s first IDEA-certified Master Technician. He has been employed by AAA Garage Door for 6+ years, and has had the Master Technician Certification in his sights since he began. Felipe has also passed four written examinations including Residential Installer Certification, Commercial Sectional Door Systems Technician Certification, Commercial Rolling Door Systems Technician Certification, and Rolling Steel Fire Door Technician Certification. Felipe is constantly looking for ways to improve his abilities within our industry. His goal is to become the best garage door technician possible to best assist his customers and fellow co-workers.