Otherwise known as a pedestrian door or wicket door, a man door is simply a classic swing-style door placed inside of a garage door.
“Just as the name depicts, [a] garage door with pedestrian doors is a normal-sized human door cut inside the bigger garage door to allow easy entry into the garage. It enables you to enter your garage without the need to open the entire garage door,” explains Garage Adviser.
Should you install a man door in your garage door? Take a look at the pros and cons and see if a man door is a practical choice for your garage.
A man door is an additional door intended for people to walk through that’s often seen in a commercial, industrial, or school or hospital building. Oftentimes a man door is next to an overhead door to allow access in addition to the equipment or loading dock.
Benefits of Man Doors
Man doors need to be easy to walk in and out of, hence the push bar and the fact that they are often double doors. They also need to be heavy-duty as the traffic going in and out of an exterior door is high either by employees or students or patients. A lot of industrial or commercial businesses require a man door for employees to use instead of the equipment garage door.
Security is also the main attraction of man doors. Since man doors are often seen at the entrances of schools and hospitals, they need to be able to be locked and secured easily and offer a level of safety. This is why man doors are often fiberglass or steel doors. While they must be heavy-duty they also need to offer ease of functionality.
Other Names for Man Doors
Oftentimes a man door is actually built into the garage door, but even if it’s not, basically the main criteria is that it needs to be a swing-style door.
Other names for these types of doors are:
pass-through door
access door
wicket door
swing door
pedestrian door
Uses for Man Doors
Schools
Man doors are great for school building entrances so kids and staff can go in and out easily and quickly to keep the traffic flowing through. Not only are man doors good entry doors but they are also good for hallways as interior doors to open and close throughways but also to keep the flow of traffic through the school moving efficiently.
Hospitals
Hospitals are also good places for man doors at entrances as the front door, and also in hallways for the same reason as in schools. These types of doors are good to push through without touching doorknobs or handles since they open by pushing and can swing closed by themselves. Again, these doors are used for high-traffic areas while still offering a level of security, cleanliness, and efficiency.
Warehouses
Man doors are also good to use in industrial and commercial settings like factories, warehouses, breweries, and so much more. Man doors can be built into the loading dock door or as a side door to allow easy access into the warehouse so that employees don’t have to use the large main doors.
Not only are man doors safer for employees but they are also energy efficient so that the temperatures inside the warehouse don’t fluctuate too much by opening and closing the main loading dock doors.
Most man doors are basically man-sized doors cut into bigger commercial doors!
Residential Garages
Finally, man doors can also be used in a residential capacity. A man door installed in a residential garage door can be a good way for homeowners to get in or out of the garage without opening the garage door.
The benefits of a man door in a residential capacity are the same: they help conserve energy and are safer to walk through than a garage door. They can even offer a level of curb appeal that may set a home apart from the rest on the street!
Thompson Garage Doors | Man Doors
Here at Thompson Garage Doors, we offer a variety of man doors for residential and commercial uses. We have a variety of door styles and years of experience to tell you what you need when it comes to doors. Our door services include garage door installation and garage door repair a variety of doors both in a residential and commercial capacity.
Contact us today!