Supplying doors for military bases is nothing new for Schweiss Doors. The company has been doing it for years. Although Canadian Forces Base Borden (CFB Borden) didn’t have a need for specialty blast-proof doors that many base projects require, a recent building expansion project for its training school called for the type of bifold and hydraulic doors that Schweiss Doors is known for.

CFB Borden is located approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of Toronto, in the heart of Simcoe County, Ontario. The basetrains 15,000 military personnel annually and employs approximately 3,250 military members and 1,500 civilians. Its mission includes supporting its customers in the most cost-effective manner to enable them to accomplish missions. These customers include several military training establishments and a variety of other military and civilian organizations located on the base.

Wilcox Door Services of Mississauga, Ontario, was in charge of ordering and installing seven Schweiss hydraulic and bifold doors for a new 16,000-square-foot mechanical engineering and training building at the base, which has a tank display school for training mechanical and electrical engineers.

The project required four 18'-10" wide x 14'-5" tall bifold liftstrap doors and three hydraulic doors. The largest of the hydraulic doors is 18'-3" wide x 8' tall. The other two are 17'-11" wide x 8'-3" tall. The bifolds are clad with glass and equipped with automatic latches, emergency back-up hand cranks, remote openers, weatherproof electrical and door base safety edges. Each door is also powder coated. The hydraulic doors have many of these same features and utilize 12-volt emergency backup systems in case of a power outage.

Bill Stewart, owner of Wilcox Door Services as well as Richards-Wilcox Custom Cranes, said the bifold doors were used for the larger openings and while hydraulic doors were specified for the smaller. He noted the installation went well and the people at Schweiss Doors were helpful in giving suggestions and answering questions. The Hamilton, Ont., office of Richards-Wilcox Custom Cranes had previously sold and installed Schweiss Doors. Kevin Song, now in contract sales for Wilcox Door Services, was working for a company that was assigned to order 20 Schweiss bifold doors used on the Newmarket Municipal Operations Building.

Carillion Construction Company Project Coordinator Justin Bourne, says the entire building project is now in its final completion state and the Schweiss doors are in place and working fine.

“We wanted the bifold doors for the amount of clearance they needed for the tanks to get in the building,” Bourne says. “The hydraulic doors are used in a shop that has tools and such; there’s no driving in there. The glass doors make it easier to look into the building and it is more attractive for the military students to look in. I like the look of the massive doors; they add a lot to the building. The quality is up to our expectations.”