About Us
Tiger Door
For more than 40 years, Tiger Door has been in the forefront of research and development in the field of Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) products. The result is the finest FRP products in the marketplace – the unanimous choice of demanding architects, designers, owners and contractors worldwide.
Tiger Door FRP door and frame units include: Heavy Duty Door Series; Extreme Duty UL Fire Rated and Extreme Duty Hurricane/Windstorm Door Series; as well as Fixed Window Systems, Louvers, Thresholds, and Light Kits.
Every Tiger Door is custom CAD designed and hand fabricated by our craftsmen to your requirements. It is important to note that all Tiger Door products can be provided in custom sizes and will contain no ferrous metal or wood components in their construction that could lead to premature failure. Tiger Door – the first choice of FRP doors.
How Tiger Door Got Its Name
Tiger Door was originally called The Forever Door and was developed by Gary Binder. He ran it as basically a cottage industry selling and manufacturing the door himself. He only had one door model, what we call the Heavy Duty Door. After taking the business as far as he could he sold it to Composite Structures. Composite Structures manufactured various fiberglass items and thought it would be a good fit. Composite Structures kept Gary Binder on as a consultant.
At that time our markets were waste water treatment facilities, paper mills, photo processing labs and similar environments due to the wet and corrosive conditions. However, we knew that a natural placement for the doors would be any place where frequent cleaning with harsh chemical cleaners existed. So we started targeting hospitals and zoos. The first large project we did in a non-traditional market was the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We did some amazing doors for them including doors designed to withstand and contain rhinos. The next Zoo we went to was the Henry Doorly Zoo. They were getting ready to build the primate facility. Three months after they were installed we talked with the Zoo and we were told the doors were holding up well and “the tigers love them”. We were speechless with their remark “the tigers love them”. It seems they had given the doors to the tigers as toys. They were in one of the tiger enclosures and the tigers were using them as ramps and beds and urinals. That’s how the Forever Door became the Tiger Door.
News & Media
Regarding: Formaldehyde-Free Wood Products
Tiger Door Company is pleased to announce that, in keeping with the company’s LEED Initiative, all Tiger wood and plastic laminate products contain no added urea-formaldehyde resins in their manufacture. This includes both Tiger’s UL fire rated and non-fire rated wood acoustic door systems.
The goal of Tiger Door’s LEED Initiative is to provide the architectural and design community, our customers and prospective customers, with an informed resource to help them understand the various requirements of building “green,” and the specialty door products designed and manufactured to achieve that end.
Tiger Sound Control Products have always been lead-free, asbestos-free and formaldehyde-free, including: Acoustical Metal Swinging Doors; Oversized Swinging Doors; Horizontal Sliding Doors; and, Fixed Window Systems.
As cited in LEED® Credit EQ-4.4: Low Emitting Materials - Composite Wood & Agrifiber urea-formaldehyde is commonly used in composite wood products such as hardwood plywood, particleboard, and medium-density fiberboard (mdf). In commercial buildings, these board products are typically used as substrates for cabinetry, paneling and other millwork items, as binder (typically exterior grade softwood miscellaneous blocking or mounting panels, and as panels) cores or stabilizing layers in wood doors. The intent is to reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are odorous, irritating, and or harmful to the comfort and well-being of installers and occupants.
Regarding: Formaldehyde-Free Wood Products
Tiger Door Company is pleased to announce that Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) has granted Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain-of-Custody Certification to Tiger’s Wood Acoustic Door products.
FSC Chain of Custody Certification means that Tiger Door meets strict tracking requirements for ensuring that the wood acoustic products it sells as FSC-Certified come from well-managed forests. In addition, there are documented controls to make sure the integrity of the environment is upheld. The FSC has accredited SCS as a third-party to certify companies according to FSC international standards to help promote the environmentally appropriate management of the world’s forests. Tiger Door’s FSC Chain of Custody certificate code is SCS-COC-003417.
In a related development of Tiger’s green initiative, the Company last year announced that all Tiger wood and plastic laminate products contain no added urea-formaldehyde resins in their manufacture. This includes both Tiger’s UL fire-rated and non-fire rated wood acoustic door systems. Tiger Sound Control Products have always been lead-free, asbestos-free and formaldehyde-free, including: Acoustical Metal Swinging Doors; Oversized Swinging Doors; Horizontal Sliding Doors; and, Fixed Window Systems.
Regarding: Tiger Door Pharmaceutical Door Series
Tiger Door is pleased to announce its new FRP Pharmaceutical Door Series. Designed exclusively for interior pharmaceutical and medical environments where cleanliness is a must, the Pharmaceutical Door Series is seamless and manufactured with all nonorganic materials. Its smooth, non-porous surface is easy to keep clean.
The core of the Tiger Pharmaceutical Duty Door consists of a 4mm cell polypropylene honeycomb surrounded by a rigid tubular FRP sub-frame. The skins for the door begin with the application of an “in-mold” 25-30 mil gel coat. Then a chopped strand glass fiber mat is applied to form the connective tissue, followed by a muscular bi-axial glass fiber structural reinforcement layer that further enhances the Herculean strength of the door.
Finally, the composite skins are simultaneously fused onto both faces and all edges of the door under heat and pressure until cured — not only to the FRP sub-frame but to the entire polypropylene honeycomb core—forming a bond that fully integrates the components. This highly advanced method of assembly using press-mold technology is only available from Tiger Door. Each door is factory finished with a specially formulated multi-component polyurethane industrial chemical coating for the color topcoat.
Pharmaceutical Duty fiberglass doors are guaranteed for the life of the product against delamination failure due to corrosion from the specific chemical environment and cleaning agents named at the time of purchase. The doors are guaranteed against defective workmanship for a period of ten (10) calendar years after the date of purchase. Tiger Door Pharmaceutical Door Series is the smart choice where hygiene, aesthetics and long-term durability are a major concern.
Regarding: Tiger Door Heavy Duty and Extreme Duty New Green Manufacturing Process
Tiger Door Company, in keeping with its Green Initiative, is proud to announce innovations to the construction of its Heavy Duty (HD) and 90-minute fire-rated Extreme Duty (ED) Products. The result of these manufacturing changes lowers the carbon footprint and reduces lead time for the HD and ED door series while keeping the same quality expected of Tiger products.
Previously, the construction of the HD and ED products was time-consuming and labor-intensive. The construction of the skins required manually spraying a large amount of resins, catalyst and even more volatile gel-coats onto the construction molds. The spraying resulted in a large VOC count and increased emissions numbers to near max capacity at the company’s production facilities. In addition, the beginning of the process required a long “cure” or “down” time.
“The new process eliminates the need for gel-coat, excess resin, and excess catalyst while speeding up the lamination of the doors,” said Jon Reese, Outside Sales Manager for Tiger. “The “Press-Mold” technology is still utilized to laminate the skins to the core, stile, and rails. However, by laminating a pre-made skin to the standard HD sub-frame under the press the use of damaging VOC’s is cut by nearly two-thirds and emissions reduced significantly.” Mr. Reese added, “The chemical reaction between the elements of the product still occurs under the presses and the bond that allows Tiger Door to offer the best warranty in the business is unaffected.”
The paint utilized on these doors is the same two-part polyurethane chemical coating utilized on Tiger Door frames and Medium Duty (MD) products. “Post-applied” gel-coat is available on a case-by-case basis. With the new efficiencies, design and improvements Tiger Door is pleased to introduce a 4- week lead time for any door in the standard and pre-matched colors with 12” x 12” or 24” x 30” (1/4” glass) to be factory provided and installed, as well as any size window kit or glass size by others with standard hardware. Consult the factory for details and limitations.
For more than 30 years, Tiger Door has been at the forefront of research and development in the field of Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) products. The result is the finest FRP products in the marketplace - the unanimous choice of demanding architects, designers, owners, and contractors worldwide.