On a busy site in a tough coastal, wash-down environment, salt and moisture are hard on everything, and doors cop it worst of all. The original steel-clad doors here had corroded from the bottom up: the skin had rusted through and begun lifting off the frame, leaving the opening neither secure nor weatherproof.
Painted and clad steel looks fine on day one, but in salt air and regular wash-down the coating eventually breaks down. Once water reaches the steel underneath, rust takes hold and spreads, and patching it is a short-term fix at best. In this spot, the door was never going to last.
We supplied and installed replacement doors with a polished 316 marine-grade stainless steel finish. 316 is the grade made for coastal and marine settings, and the polished surface means salt does not hold to it the way it clings to painted steel: it washes off rather than sitting there and eating into the metal. We kept the louvre venting the building needs, and hung and sealed the doors to stand up to a heavy-use opening.
A secure, well-ventilated opening built for the environment it lives in, and a door that will stand up to the salt for years instead of rusting out again. Built to last, finished to suit the building it sits in.
Indicative price: a custom 316 stainless door for a job like this ranges from $6,000 to $10,000, with oversize doors at the upper end. Every opening and site is different, so the exact figure comes from a quick look and a phone estimate.
