Company History

Peter Coleman, the inventor of the ColemanSideSlider, is also the founder and owner of Dependable Storage Services, Inc., which for over ten years has designed, built, and operated mini storage facilities on the Gulf Coast.

Coleman and his staff are intimately familiar with the problems caused by the roll up door. Over the years, Coleman has purchased thousands of roll up doors from the major door manufacturers and over the years, with each purchase, Coleman has urged these companies to come up with a new door without springs.

Each year, and at each new storage convention, these door manufacturers would introduce a “new generation” door. Each year, “new generation” meant springs with grease, dual springs instead of single springs, springs in tubes, new spring adjusting devices, springs made with different steel, but essentially always the same door. Each year the “newly introduced,” “next generation” roll up door looked the same, worked the same, and had the same problems as the previous ones.

Inspired by his daughter’s love for horses and having spent so much time with her in a barn, Coleman realized how to solve the problems of the roll up door and get rid of the springs forever and for good. The ColemanSideSlider operates with only two moving parts, the two rollers on top of the door that never need adjustment and never wear out. The ColemanSideSlider opens and closes with little exertion from only one finger and meets ADA requirements.

The specific problems that the self storage industry has always faced with the roll up doors and the ones Coleman solved with the ColemanSideSlider are these:

• The roll up door cannot be operated by a handicapped person, a short person, or a person who has an injury to his hand, his back or his leg.
• A person is required to stoop or squat to exert upward force to open the roll up door which is often impossible with the elderly or infirm.
• A person is required to reach up to pull down the roll up door (not always possible with short people) and stoup or squat to close the roll up door.
• A person has to step on a bottom plate to force the door to the floor and at the same time find the exact placement where the sliding lock bolt aligns with the slot in the doorjamb in order to lock the door. This is not possible without foot and hand coordination and not possible with a foot or hand injury.
• The roll up door often racks in its tracks and tends to get stuck in a half way open or half way closed position.
• Changing weather conditions, rust, deterioration and use over time cause the roll up door either not to go all the way up or go all the way down.
• Changing weather conditions, rust, deterioration and use over time change the coil tension and require constant calibration of the coil springs.
• If the coiled spring of the roll up door is on only one side of the top drum, the door tends to rack in its tracks as it is lifting and dropping because the coil spring pulls up on only one side and is inconsistent and unpredictable in its tension and ineffective.
• If the coiled springs are on both sides the door tends to rack when there is different friction in either of the side tracks or in the bearings on either side of the door or differences in the calibration of the springs.
• The effectiveness of the coiled springs is constantly changing with the amount of friction in the tracks and the bearings and the number of times the spring contracts and expands (with each use the strength of the spring deteriorates). This makes adjusting the spring tension with the ratchets at the end of the top drum inexact and in need constant readjusting.
• When the coil springs or the adjusting ratchets fail (and ultimately they do) there is possibility of the door crashing down causing injury or death.
• If the stop tab located at the top of the door jamb channel comes lose, bends out of place or otherwise fails the door will violently spin in the open position and come crashing down causing injury or death to anyone who is under the door to too near to it.
• Preassembled doors from the factory are heavy and bulky and require on site lifting equipment, technicians and labors for delivery and installation. (All components of the “ColemanSideSlider”* can be assembled on site creating ease of shipping, delivery and installation.)
• When the roll up door is fully open, the corrugated metal door skin is completely wound up around a drum inside of the storage unit. This takes up space that could otherwise be used for storage of items.
• When the storage unit is full to capacity items tend to shift when the roll up door is being closed. Shifting items will often jam the roll up door so that the door cannot be opened.
• The locking mechanisms are easily compromised by thieves who would cut the pad locks with bolt cutters or pry the door frames from the door skin.
• The horizontal corrugated ribs of the door skin naturally collect dust and grim and quickly become unsightly.

The roll up doors have a coiled spring located on one end of the top cylinder or in some cases, two coiled springs located on both ends of the top cylinder in order to counter balance the weight of the corrugated metal door skin. The coiled springs are tightened and adjusted with a ratchet system either at one end (as is the case when there is only one coiled spring) or at both ends (as is the case when there are two coiled springs) to prevent the door from crashing downward.

Roll up doors require a large size person with a sizable amount of dexterity and strength to operate. This person cannot have infirmity to his hands, legs, feet, or back. These roll up doors are heavy, spring loaded for counter balance and are tightly tensioned with coiled springs and an adjusting ratchet system. When the coil springs or adjusting ratchet fails in the open position, the door crashes downward causing injury or death to anyone who might be under it or near it.

Roll up doors contain a metal stop plate attached to the top of the door jamb channel guide to keep the door from spinning around when it reaches its open position. If the stop plate comes out of position or otherwise fails the door in the open position will violently spin around and come crashing down. Anyone under the door or near it can be injured or killed.

The roll up door also has a handle or step plate at the bottom of the door to step on in order to overcome the lifting action of the coiled spring and to get the door all the way to the floor. It is necessary to force the roll up tightly to the floor in order to enable the slide bolt to align and to be slid into the slot carved out in the door jamb channel iron. This maneuver requires size, strength, and hand and foot dexterity.

The ColemanSideSlider door and hall way system for new construction and for retrofit of broken roll up doors provides easier, cheaper and quicker installation, with doors that give better lighting in the unit, more storage space in the unit, stronger more secure doors, quieter doors, and cleaner doors than the conventional roll up door system.