Roller shutter glossary
The words installers, planners and insurers use, explained in plain English.
- Lath
- One of the horizontal interlocking strips that make up a shutter curtain. Laths can be aluminium or steel, solid, perforated, punched or insulated.
- Curtain
- The flexible part of a roller shutter made of joined laths, which rolls up into the box and down the guides.
- Barrel
- The steel tube the curtain wraps around inside the shutter box. On electric shutters it often contains the tube motor.
- Shutter box
- The housing above the opening that hides the rolled-up curtain and barrel. Also called the headbox or canopy.
- Guide rails
- The vertical channels either side of the opening that the curtain runs in. Deep guides help resist wind and forced entry.
- End plates
- Steel brackets at each end of the barrel that support it and fix it to the structure.
- Bottom rail
- The heavier section at the foot of the curtain that meets the ground, often carrying locks and a seal or safety edge.
- Tube motor
- A tubular electric motor that fits inside the barrel. Used on most domestic and shop shutters.
- Direct-drive motor
- A motor mounted on the end plate that drives the barrel directly. Common on heavier commercial and industrial doors.
- Chain drive
- A motor that turns the barrel through a chain and sprockets, used on some industrial doors.
- Spring-balanced shutter
- A manual shutter whose barrel contains tensioned springs that balance the curtain so it can be pushed up by hand.
- Hand crank
- A geared handle used to wind a manual shutter up and down, or to operate an electric shutter in a power cut.
- Manual override
- A way to open or close an electric shutter without power, such as a crank, release or battery backup.
- Key switch
- A wall-mounted switch operated by a key, so only key holders can open the shutter.
- Hold-to-run
- A control that only moves the shutter while the button or key is held, so the user watches it move.
- Limit settings
- The motor settings that stop the curtain at the fully open and fully closed positions.
- Safety edge
- A pressure-sensitive strip on the bottom rail that stops and reverses a powered shutter if it touches something.
- Photocells
- Light-beam sensors across the opening that stop a powered shutter closing if the beam is broken.
- Light curtain
- A set of many light beams in the door frame that detects people or objects across the whole opening.
- Force limitation
- Keeping the closing force of a powered door low enough to reduce injury risk, checked by force testing.
- Wind locks
- Clips on the laths that engage in the guides so the curtain cannot be blown out of them.
- Anti-lift
- Locks or blocks that stop a closed curtain being forced upwards from the bottom.
- Perforated lath
- A lath pierced with small holes so light and displays show through the closed shutter.
- Punched lath
- A lath with larger slots than a perforated lath, giving more visibility and airflow.
- Micro-perforated
- A lath with very fine holes that looks nearly solid from a distance but glows when lit from behind.
- Vision lath
- A lath with clear inserts so you can see through part of the curtain.
- Roller grille
- A roller shutter with an open lattice curtain, often in a brick-bond or tubular pattern.
- Brick-bond grille
- A roller grille pattern of staggered horizontal links that looks like brickwork.
- Retractable grille
- A folding steel lattice gate that slides across an opening and stacks to the side. Also called a collapsible gate.
- Roll-formed lath
- A lath formed from thin sheet, usually double-skin aluminium filled with foam.
- Extruded lath
- A solid aluminium lath made by extrusion, stronger than roll-formed laths.
- Galvanised steel
- Steel coated with zinc to protect it from rust.
- Powder coating
- A durable paint finish baked onto metal, available in RAL colours.
- RAL colour
- A standard colour reference system used to specify paint finishes, such as RAL 7016 anthracite grey.
- Insulated lath
- A double-skin lath filled with foam to reduce heat loss and noise.
- Wicket door
- A pedestrian door built into a larger industrial door.
- High-speed door
- A fast-acting door with a fabric curtain used on busy internal and external openings.
- LPS 1175
- The Loss Prevention Certification Board's standard for the intruder resistance of building products, including shutters.
- LPCB
- The Loss Prevention Certification Board, part of BRE, which certifies security and fire products.
- Red Book
- The LPCB's published list of certified products, used to check a product's rating.
- A1 to H20
- LPS 1175 Issue 8 ratings: the letter is the threat level tested against and the number is the minimum delay in minutes.
- SR ratings
- The older LPS 1175 Issue 7 security ratings, SR1 to SR8, replaced by the letter-and-number format in Issue 8.
- STS 202
- A security test standard for burglary resistance of products including shutters and grilles, with BR ratings.
- BS EN 1627
- A European standard classifying burglar resistance of doors, windows, shutters and grilles from RC1 to RC6.
- BS EN 13241
- The product standard for industrial, commercial and garage doors and gates, including roller shutters.
- BS EN 12453
- The standard for safety in use of power-operated doors and gates, covering safety devices and force limits.
- Declaration of conformity
- A document from the installer or manufacturer stating that a powered door meets the relevant safety requirements.
- Commissioning
- Setting up and testing a new powered shutter, including limits, controls and safety devices, before handover.
- Risk assessment
- A check of how a powered door will be used and who could be hurt, which decides the safety devices needed.
- Fire shutter
- A fire-resisting roller shutter that closes automatically to stop fire spreading through an opening.
- Fusible link
- A heat-sensitive link that breaks at a set temperature and releases a fire shutter to close.
- Drop test
- A test of a fire shutter in which it is released to check it closes fully and at a safe speed.
- Integrity (E)
- A fire resistance measure of how long a product stops flames and hot gases passing through.
- Insulation (I)
- A fire resistance measure of how long a product limits the temperature rise on its unexposed side.
- Responsible person
- In England and Wales, the person in control of premises who is responsible for fire safety.
- Duty holder
- In Scotland, the person with responsibility for fire safety in relevant premises.
- Planning permission
- Consent from the local council for development, which usually includes adding external shutters to a shopfront.
- Listed building consent
- Separate consent needed for changes that affect the character of a listed building, inside or out.
- Conservation area
- An area of special architectural or historic interest where councils control changes to appearance more tightly.
- Permitted development
- Minor works that can be carried out without a planning application, within national rules.
- Article 4 direction
- In England, a council direction that removes some permitted development rights in a defined area.
- Fascia
- The board above a shopfront, often used to hide a shutter box.
- Face fixing
- Mounting the guides and box on the outside face of the wall around an opening.
- Reveal fixing
- Mounting the guides inside the sides of the opening.
- Planned maintenance
- Scheduled servicing of shutters at set intervals to prevent breakdowns. Also called PPM.
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