Archive for May, 2009
1008.1.8.6 Delayed egress locks. Approved, listed, delayed egress locks shall be permitted to be installed on doors serving any occupancy except Group A, E and H occupancies in buildings that are equipped throughout with an automatic sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1 or an approved automatic smoke or heat detection system installed in accordance [...]
Last week someone called me with a “quick question” about a double egress pair in a hospital. The hospital wanted to install shear locks on a pair of double egress doors, to use during emergency lock-downs. Unfortunately, as some of you have figured out by now, I don’t usually have a quick answer. There are [...]
Did you know that if you register with NFPA (free), you can access the NFPA codes and standards online? Just use this link to register or sign in. Once you’re registered, go to the list of NFPA Codes & Standards, choose the document you’d like to see, and scroll to the bottom of the screen where [...]
I got an email today about a fire rated door that would not reliably close with the closer adjusted to provide 5 pounds of opening force. I did a post on opening force for accessibility a while back, but it’s important to note that fire-rated doors are not required to open with 5 pounds of [...]
Almost every week someone asks me about the clearance behind door pulls. Many manufacturers’ catalogs show certain pulls with a symbol indicating that they are accessible, and other pulls without the symbol. About 10 years ago I called the Department of Justice (ADA), the International Code Council (CABO back then), and the Massachusetts Architectural Access [...]
This article was written by Carl Prinzler, one of the creators of the original exit device, at the end of the 1930′s. I think it’s an interesting insight into the development of the first exit device and the code requirements at that time. How It All Began A rambling story of the birth of Von [...]
Last year I taught a 2-day class with my friend and mentor, Zeke. As Zeke and I prepared for the class, we had friendly disagreements about several code requirements. I hate to be wrong, so whenever he disagreed I would flop open the code in question and read aloud until he cried “uncle”. But there [...]
Since Maine and Massachusetts have adopted the 2007 edition of NFPA 80 which requires the annual inspection of fire doors, we have received enough questions about it that I put together a list of frequently asked questions. Here they are: The 2007 Edition of NFPA 80 – Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives [...]
What you’re looking at is an existing fire rated frame with a new door that I saw recently during a fire door inspection. Most of the other doors that I inspected that day had steel hinge fillers to fill the existing hinge preps before the continuous hinges were installed. So why were a half-dozen or [...]
