Full Hood, Half Hood or No Hood?
For almost any roller shutter door you will often see various references to a ‘hood cover’ or ‘roll enclosure’ or similar wording and this is a reference to the optional cover for the curtain roll for most roller doors, whether domestic or commercial.
Any roller shutter door has a curtain roll which attaches onto a barrel fitted inbetween two endplates either side. The roll of the curtain and the barrel are fully exposed without any hood cover fitted. Some people aren’t bothered by seeing the roll and barrel when closed or open, but when the door is below 2.3m high it is recommended to have the roll covered, primarily for safety, but other benefits come with the half or full hood covering as well. Some roller door models have a full hood cover as standard, no choice in the matter.
No Hood Cover for Roll
The majority of aluminium double skinned roller garage doors we supply have the basic open curtain roll, no hood cover and this is quite acceptable if the door height is about 2200mm or higher and the roll is completely seated behind a lintel and therefore when rolled up is out of view. It does not affect the long term operation of the door, but a hood cover will provide protection from dust and also make the overall weathersealing that little bit better.
Half Hood
A Half Hood covering is a 90 degree folded aluminium or steel section which fits to provide a front fascia and top cover section to the whole length of the curtain roll. This is ideal if the roller shutter door is not fully hidden behind the aperture or is fitted inbetween an opening. It provides a flat front fascia section so the curtain roll is covered when looking from the outside of the building, saving you the bother of fitting other fascia cladding or similar.
Full Hood
A Full Hood cover is the half hood with another folded metal section to completely enclose the curtain roll from the front top and inside, obviously with an open section to let the curtain rise up and down. This fully covers the roll from view, protects from fingers, etc from entering and getting caught when the roll is opening. This full hood also provides additional weather protection from wind and dust entering from outside. Obviously it also makes for better aesthetics from inside.
If you are using a roller shutter door and fitting the whole door to the outside face of the building then you will need a full hood by default to cover and protect everything from being exposed to the elements.
 No hood cover for roll |
 Half hood cover for roll |
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The image above shows an end on illustration of the 2 folded aluminium sections that make up a full hood cover on a roller shutter garage door. The 'half box' section is what would be fixed to provide the fascia to the front of the roller door. The front being referred to as the side with the 'convex' side showing. the inside is the 'concave' side of any roller shutter door. This 'half box' section os also referred to as the 90 degree half box as it is a simple 90 degree folded section. The other section is described as the 45 degree section as it has the 45 degree fold. This section can be purchased on its own with a Seceuroglide roller garage door to cloak the roll and view off from the inside when perhaps the roller door it tight upagainst the ceiling but there is no need for the top and front section as it is behind an RSJ.
Industrial Roller Shutter Doors
Large industrial roller doors also have the same options with the hood covers and generally we would advise that most industrial roller doors do have a full cover for safety.
When the door is less than 2500mm high then safety also comes into play and it is mandatory in a public environment to protect from the internal workings.
Often the steel hood cover will require additonal support when the door is wider than about 5000mm to avoid sagging in the steel cover sections.
