Archive for September, 2009
Name: Brian Messina, AHC Company, Location, and Years of Service: Kamco Supply Corp of Boston – Woburn, Massachusetts – 17 Years with Kamco Current Position: Door Division Manager Summary of Previous Industry Experience: 5 years with Door Ways, 1 1/2 years with Construction Specialties & 1 1/2 years with Thompson Co. Total Years in the [...]
There are a thousand ways to screw up a door, so one of my goals with this blog is to help others avoid mistakes I’ve seen or made myself (yes, I’ve made plenty). Today’s warning involves the straight pulls that have become popular in the last few years. These pulls are often close to the full height [...]
Some projects require lever designs for locksets and panic hardware that are beyond the selection of standard “vanilla” levers offered by all of the commercial manufacturers. In some cases, even the “European” designs don’t fill the bill, especially when special finishes are desired. I’ve often run into this with museum projects I’ve specified. For those [...]
If you regularly check this site to find out what’s new and exciting in the world of doors and hardware, you may have occasionally experienced a server error. Yesterday I asked the web hosting company to move the site to a more stable server to avoid these errors, which they agreed to do at midnight. I [...]
The 2009 edition of the International Building Code (IBC) contains an important change that’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. I stumbled across it a few months ago when someone asked me about the exception for cross-corridor doors without positive latching in I-2 occupancies. This exception is found in Section 709 – Smoke [...]
Name: Michelle C. “Shelley” Hudson, CCPR Company, Location, and Years of Service:Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, Needham, Massachusetts, 8 years Current Position: Architectural Development Summary of Previous Industry Experience: A total of 20 years working as an independent representative, representing a variety of manufacturers in both Division 8 and Division 10. A 4-year stint with another [...]
One of the Top 10 *issues* I’ve consistently had to deal with over the years is US10B – oil-rubbed bronze finish. This has been the finish of choice when the “antique” or “historic” look is desired, and whenever I’m asked to specify it I make sure that the architect knows what’s going to happen after the hardware [...]
At next month’s meeting of the Boston Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), I’ll be doing an update on the 7th edition of the Massachusetts State Building Code. The presentation should be about 45 minutes + time for questions, so relatively painless, and the food is GREAT! If you’d like to attend and you’re [...]
If you haven’t seen the new Schlage AD Series Electronic Lock, you can check it out at Schlage.com - just click any of the graphics on this post. Don’t you think it’s time for me to go on another road trip? I can take an AD Series lock with me this time.
I recently went to Boston’s Theatre District to see the W Hotel, a project that I wrote the hardware spec for a few years ago. The opening date for the hotel is October 22nd, with the condos on the upper floors to follow. The architectural firm is one I’ve worked with many times – TRO/Jung Brannen. Whenever I’ve mentioned this [...]
Earlier this week with the 8th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, I wondered what was happening at Ground Zero. I checked in with the Metro-NY office of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies, and learned that their specification department had written the hardware specs for the four new World Trade Center towers, and the retail space that connects [...]
A couple of weeks ago, one of our specwriters called to ask me this question and I knew the answer immediately. Then…hmmm…I thought about it, and talked to myself for a while as he sat on the other end of the phone waiting for both of my selves to come to an agreement. It was [...]
Honestly, I do NOT have a bathroom obsession. It’s just a coincidence that once again, a code question came up regarding a bathroom door. You know how sometimes you just know something, and then someone questions you and then you start to question yourself? That’s what happened yesterday. I was creating some hardware sets for [...]
During Chip Falcon’s Road Trip we visited Colonial Williamsburg, and you may have seen my slideshow of the doors and hardware there. I received quite a few questions from readers about the hardware at CW, so I sent an email to the Architectural Research Department there and I got a return email from Mr. Kenneth Schwarz, whose [...]
Wait a minute - WHAT??? For several months I’ve been trying to find out more about the research that was conducted years ago regarding the use of a mullion on a pair of doors. It could be one of those urban legends of door hardware, but as the story goes, when a university tested egress through a [...]
When this photo arrived in my inbox, I immediately thought the panic was mounted in that position to be operated by someone’s foot. I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around the latching/unlatching situation…I really think it’s just being used as a pull bar and that there’s no strike installed. On my next road trip maybe [...]
One of our specwriters recently received a memo from an acoustical consultant regarding a school project that he was working on. The memo referenced a standard called ANSI-ASA S12.60 – Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools. This standard was developed by ANSI and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) in 2002 (reaffirmed [...]
