Rollup Curtain Doors - Fast, Secure Access for Forklift Traffic

Manual, Motorized or High-Speed: Choosing a Roll-Up Curtain Door

There are one of three ways in which you can roll-up curtain doors: by hand, with a standard motor, or with a high-speed motor that opens in one to two seconds. The right one for you between these options is determined by how many times you want the door to open in a day.

Use this guide to match your traffic to a door style, then see sizes and options on our roll-up vinyl doors page.

Compare Door Styles

A manual heavy duty vinyl roll up door suitable for industrial and commercial facility entrances.

The Takeaway: For a door that opens a few times a day, a manual door is recommended; it costs less. For doors that open frequently within an hour, a motorized door is best. Meanwhile, a high-speed door is recommended for steady forklift traffic all shift or an opening between hot and cold areas.

Start With Your Busiest Hour

Count the trips through the opening in your busiest hour, then find your row:

Trips through the opening	Door style	Opening speed	Largest size	Typical price
A few a day	Manual	By hand	16' x 16' (chain hoist)	$1,710 to $4,000
Several an hour	Motorized	12 or 20 in. per second	25' x 20'	$2,045 to $4,100
Steady traffic all shift	High-speed	20 to 100 in. per second	50' x 50'	$4,347 to $21,092

Our product pages have different price ranges. The actual price you need to pay depends on factors such as size, vinyl weight, mounting style, controls, and windows. For a single shift, there are an additional 100,000+ open and close cycles a year at 60 trips an hour. High-speed doors are designed for this kind of traffic.

What a Manual Door Really Costs

It costs less for you to purchase a manual door, but you have to use your hand to open and close it during each trip. That means, if you are a forklift driver, you need to always stop, lower the forks, set the brake, climb off, raise the door, before you climb back on and drive through. According to OSHA, the forks need to be lowered, the control in neutral, and the brake set whenever a driver steps off the truck (OSHA 1910.178)

The list below shows a simple way you can put a price on that time:

30 seconds per trip x 40 trips a day = 20 minutes a day
20 minutes x 250 working days = about 83 hours a year
83 hours x $22.32, the median forklift operator wage (O*NET wage data) = about $1,860 a year

The price gap is way more than the gap between our lowest-priced manual and motorized doors, before you now calculate the heat or cold lost when drivers leave the door open to save time.

Good To Know: The presence of the pull-cord switches means drivers don’t have to leave their seat before they can open the motorized door. This is because, as traffic approaches, the motion sensors open it. Our motorized roll-up vinyl door has both options.

Compare the Three Door Styles

Blue manual roll-up vinyl curtain door closed in a storage room opening, with a clear window strip and a pull strap on the bottom bar

Manual Doors

Whether you raise the manual door by hand using a spring-loaded roll rube, or you utilize a chain hoist to raise larger doors, here is what you should note:

A good option for opening doors not used frequently during the day
Spring loaded up to 12' x 12', chain hoist up to 16' x 16'
Typical price: $1,710 to $4,000
One-year limited warranty

See Manual Doors

Yellow motorized roll-up vinyl door with a clear vision window, partly raised in a manufacturing plant, with a side motor and pull cord

Motorized Doors

You can open motorized doors with a push button, pull cord, remote, or motion sensor. Here, it’s recommended that you choose a 12 in. per second in-tube motor or a 20 in. per second jackshaft motor.

A good fit for openings used frequently within an hour.
Width and height are customizable up to 25’ and 20 ’, respectively.
Typical price ranges between $2,045 and $4,100
Up to a one-year limited warranty

See Motorized Doors

Forklift carrying a pallet through a fully open blue high-speed roll-up fabric door into a cold storage area

High-Speed Doors

High speed doors open at around 20 to 100 in. per second and closes immediaately benind the traffic. If a forklift clips it, the breakaway bottom bar pops out and resets on its own.

A good option for hot or cold rooms and steady forklift traffic
The typical price ranges from $4,347 to $21,092
Comes with a one-year limited warranty

See our guide on commercial high-speed doors if you want to compare our high-speed fabric door with the steel option.

See High-Speed Doors

How Long Each Door Takes to Open

Bar chart of seconds to open a 10 foot roll-up door: 10 seconds at 12 inches per second, 6 at 20, 3.5 at 34 and 1.2 at 100

How long traffic waits and how long the opening remains open is determined by the opening speed. The list below shows what you should note for a 10-foot-tall floor:

For an in-tube motor, it requires 12 in. per second, which takes about 10 seconds
For a jackshaft motor, it requires 20 in. per second, which takes about 6 seconds
For a high-speed door, it requires 100 in. per second which takes just over 1 second

Heat, cold, and dust will hardly penetrate the door if the door does not stand open for a long time. You can upgrade small to medium motorized doors to a 34 in. per second motor.

Common Questions

What are the doors that roll up called?

Doors that roll up are called roll-up doors or rolling doors. You can also call them roll-up curtain doors, vinyl roll-up doors, or flexible doors if the curtain is fabric and not steel slats. Meanwhile, you can call the fast motorized version high-speed or rapid roll doors.

How much does a roll-up door cost?

Our manual roll-up curtain door typically costs between $1,710 and $4,000. The motorized version costs between $2,045 and $4,100. The high-speed version costs between $4,347 and $21,092. The actual cost you will incur to purchase either of these doors depends on your preferred size, vinyl weight, mounting style, controls, and windows.

Are roll-up doors worth it?

Yes, roll-up doors are worth it when you need to keep an opening closed while allowing people and equipment to pass through. A vinyl roll-up door costs less compared to a steel door. They hold back heat, cold, dust, and noise. Plus, you can install them in about 3 to 4 hours from a complete kit. This door is not a security door because most fabrics can be cut with a sharp knife.

What are the different types of roll-up doors?

Roll-up doors are designed with steel slats or a fabric curtain. You can operate fabric roll-up curtain doors in three different styles, which are manual (spring-loaded or chain hoist), motorized, and high-speed. When there is a need for security after hours, it’s recommended that you choose steel roll-up doors

How long does it take to get a roll-up curtain door?

You will get most of your orders on PAYLON shipped within 14 to 25 days, while you will find the actual delivery date at the top of your quote. We engineer each door to fit your opening, so your preferred size and option determine your delivery time.

What warranty comes with a roll-up curtain door?

There is a one-year limited warranty on parts and workmanship for manual, motorized, and high-speed roll-up vinyl doors. You will get most of the replacement parts in one or two days. Plus, you can easily replace the tracks and main components.

What to Send for a Quote

The list below shows what you should prepare for us to recommend the right door and price for you:

The width and height of the opening
Your busiest hour trips through the opening
The inside opening or the exterior wall
Whether it will mount inside the opening, on the wall, or even on an existing door.
Headroom available above the opening (most doors require within 6 to 18 inches)
The power available at the opening
Photos of both sides of the opening