Archive for January, 2010
This is the 4th post in a series about fire doors and the results of a recent (unscientific) survey. The survey results included some pretty good answers as to what the rules for fire doors might be. Quite a few people knew that fire doors should be kept closed, but there’s an important clarification I [...]
This is the 3rd post in a series about fire doors and the results of a recent (unscientific) survey. After filtering out the confessed “door experts” (49) and the people who skipped Question #3 (11), there were 647 responses to this question. Here are the most common answers to the question “How can you tell [...]
This is the 2nd post in a series about fire doors and the results of a recent survey. ————————————————————————————————– “Fire protection-rated doors provide critical protection to protect exit enclosures and compartmentalize buildings and stop the spread of fire, smoke, and toxic gases. The proper installation and maintenance of these doors is a critical part of [...]
A couple of weeks ago I posted a survey to find out what people know about fire doors. The purpose was to test my theory that the reason fire doors are improperly modified and damaged hardware is left unrepaired is because people don’t realize a) which doors are fire doors or b) what can or [...]
If you’re new to this blog, you have a little catching up to do. If you’ve been a loyal reader for a while, you know about “Chip Falcon.” In a nutshell, I had to take a Falcon 24/25 series exit device on my family’s annual summer road trip last year. During our travels the exit [...]
Last week I was on a conference call for one of my projects in Washington DC, because of a problem with the specified concealed closer and the fire-rated wood door and wood frame. The door manufacturer suggested a “construction label,” and most of the call participants needed an explanation of what that was. I thought [...]
A few weeks ago I saw an ASA strike used in an oddball location, and the other night I saw the deadbolt strike on the right. This is the entrance door to an upscale restaurant in Boston. I don’t really know what they were trying to cover with it, because any screw hole with a [...]
My last post was about the method of measuring the clear opening width of a door that doesn’t open to 90 degrees. After reading the codes and the commentaries and having several discussions with someone from the ICC, I posted a graphic of a 32″ cylinder passing through the opening, as described by the ICC. [...]
I haven’t posted for a few days because I’ve been working on my new FDAI presentation and various other things, but I’m kind of excited about this post because it answers a question that has been floating around for years. Ok…maybe “excited” is the wrong word, but I really enjoy crossing things off the “grey [...]
In 2007, the annual inspection of fire door assemblies became a code requirement that is gradually being adopted across the U.S. Given the enormous quantity of fire doors and the relatively small number of qualified fire door inspectors, implementation of this change has been challenging, but because of the appalling condition of the fire doors [...]
It’s been a while since I’ve given anything away, but it’s a new year and I feel the need to celebrate the upcoming 1-year anniversary of this site and the approaching milestone of hosting visitors from 100 COUNTRIES! It still amazes me that hardware haters (and hardware lovers) worldwide are using this site as a [...]
I have recently run into aluminum doors on a few different projects which have unusually small jambs – the jamb depth of the aluminum extrusion is very close to the door thickness. So imagine a 2″ thick aluminum door and a jamb that is just a little wider than that. It’s extremely difficult to use [...]
. We just received word that 3 of the LCN 4040XP closers currently being tested have surpassed 20 million cycles and are still going strong! The tests are being conducted at LCN, following the procedures of ANSI/BHMA A156.4. It has taken 2 1/2 years of constant cycling for the size-4* closers to reach the 20-million [...]
After I posted some pics of my kids during Chip Falcon’s Road Trip, many blog readers commented or emailed me about them. I finally finished our electronic “Happy New Year” card, so feel free to take a look if you want to. If not, come back tomorrow and I’ll post about something more door-like. Happy [...]
Someone recently asked me whether a low voltage license is required for wiring electrified hardware in Massachusetts. I asked my Panel of Experts and did some research on the Mass.gov website, and (regardless of what actually happens out in the field on a daily basis) a license IS required for connecting wires to electrified hardware [...]
