Which shutter type suits which opening

Vented, single-skin, wide-span, grille, high-speed and fire shutters answer different problems. Five questions settle which one an opening needs.

Six shutter types cover almost every opening, and they are not interchangeable.

Vented slat is the default on a shophouse or a residential frontage: perforations pass light and air with the door shut. Single-skin curtains are rolled from wide sheet with no joint, which keeps dust out and suits a garage or a lock-up. Wide-span slat in 6063-T5 and T6 closes warehouse and factory openings past 8 m, where wind load rather than curtain weight is the governing case.

The three specialist types answer specific problems. Grille shutters keep a shopfront visible when closed. High-speed doors cycle in seconds to hold a temperature or a clean-air boundary. Fire shutters hold a compartment line for a rated period.

Five questions settle the choice, in this order: what the door is protecting, how wide the opening is, how many cycles a day it will run, what has to be true when the power fails, and what the budget is. Answering them in that order tends to produce a door that lasts; answering the last one first tends not to.